prejudice.. .

I'm an avid supporter of taking the bus. Not so much for environmental reasons as I like feeling a part of the city, a part of the everyday. Second to riding a bike, nothing in China exhibits a feeling of belonging for a foreigner so much as taking public transportation (at least when you can blend in like me, so nobody is staring at you).

But yes, it's also good for the environment. Get on the bus, or ride a bike. But wear a helmet... even if nobody else is.

Chengdu, being a major urban center, is filled with a variety of peoples, especially with its proximity to Western China's many minorities. Prime amongst these minorities are Tibetans. I'm not very experienced with Tibetans, but perhaps more so than you're average U.S. citizen. I taught an English class of eight Tibetans once and they were very engaging, kind, and courteous students. They're Tibetan accents actually help them pronounce English sounds better than Han Chinese do. They have a reputation for being great dancers and singers... like every minority group does in China.

Background explained: this story involves a bus and a family of Tibetans.

As most people may be able to guess, Chinese buses can get pretty damn crowded. Passengers are suppose to enter from the front, pay the fee, and exit the back. Sometimes, this procedure is not feasible given the sheer volume of the people coming on and off. In such cases, people jump on from the back exit when space in the front isn't available. Once boarded, passengers will pass their fare money up the bus to the front. It is common knowledge and courtesy to do so, and I've been impressed with how consistently it is done. Sometimes huge fistfuls of 1 yuan bills will be passed forward. The bus driver doesn't even have to ask, and mostly trusts what is passed up as the right and proper due.

Today, while taking the bus to work, the bus was quite full, as usual. At one stop, a Tibetan lady and her two children rushed to the back gate and hopped on. The bus continued and a few minutes passed. The lady looked comfortable, but did take out any money. Looking about, the faces of the other passengers seemed uneasy. It was clear people were wondering if this little family was hoping for a free ride...

Tibetans have certain reputations, but dishonest is not one of them. If anything, they are a little too honest. My wife says that's why they do so poorly at business. There's no point in haggling prices with Tibetans, they just tell you what they're willing to sell it for and that's that. At the same time, however, Tibetans have the stereotype of also being lazy (or relaxed and slow... depending on how you look at it).

I won't lie, as the bus moved along, I started running down my list of Tibetan generalizations as to process why the Tibetan mother of two would not pay her fare after hoping on the back of the bus. Was she ignorant of bus fares? Was she actually hoping to just ignore the fare? As I was thinking, however, an old lady reminded the lady to pay. The Tibetan woman responded in Tibetan, in which none of us could understand. At this point I joined in and gestured with my hand the universal rubbing of fingers: meaning money, and said there was a fare to be paid up front. More Tibetan was given in reply. The old lady sighed, "I don't understand," but tried to tell the lady again to pay the fare. The other passengers were quietly watching, starting to feel tense.

After a few more awkward moments, a Tibetan man from the front of the bus pushed through the crowds. When he arrived, he said he had paid for them all up front in barely intelligible Mandarin Chinese. The old lady smiled at me and them, a little bit embarrassed. I was as well. It would appear to be another incident of Han Chinese looking down on Tibetan minorities. In a gesture of good will the old lady smiled at the children and said, "be careful, it's really tight in here." The younger daughter seemed to snap back in Tibetan with a little bit of a dirty look. Had they felt offended? I wouldn't have been surprised if they were.

In any case, this was a clear misunderstanding. I trust I, or this old lady, would have reminded any passenger, Han Chinese or otherwise, to pay the fare after boarding from the back if they had not. But the fact that this family was not Han Chinese, but a minority, makes the whole ordeal just a little bit more sensitive.

This incident reminds me of another story in the U.S. concerning prejudice and buses...

About a year or two ago, I was waiting to board the Chinatown bus from New York to Boston. All the passengers were lined up waiting for the bus to arrive around 9 pm or so. A few persons back, a person was looking around nervously. This didn't bother me of course. What did catch my attention was when he left the line and turned the corner, leaving his baggage behind. That bothersome feeling increased when the man didn't return for (what seemed like) five minutes.

Now, years of hanging around airports since the "war on terror" began have taught me to be suspicious of nervous or overly confident looking people leaving their luggage behind in crowded spaces. They announce that it shouldn't happen every 5 to 10 minutes. I wasn't in an airport however, and honestly, not that much time could have passed. I was nervous all the same and just prayed nothing explosive was in the bags. After a few more minutes the man returned to the line. Relieved, I boarded the bus and was off to Boston with no other concerns.

The disturbing element concerning this event is this: the man looked to be of Arab descent. There is no doubt in my mind that my sensitivities toward his actions were heightened because of his ethnicity. I'd racially profiled the man based on common media perceptions. If the man were of Asian, Anglo, or even African decent, I don't believe my worries would have been as high. (though I'd like to imagine I'd still be alarmed... right?) I recognized this immediately as I felt it, and hence tried to ignore it, but the feeling remained.

I admit it, I have prejudices. I have prejudices because I make generalizations, informed or not. Sometimes they prove insightfully helpful, other times they make me ashamed. I am working all the time to re-calibrate my heart and mind to critique and understand each circumstance and person I meet with wisdom, compassion, and justice.

We operate from generalizations all the time, and when it comes to differences, the simplest mistake or assumption could communicate, or miscommunicate, far more than we'd like. We're all prejudiced, because we operate toward difference based on whatever information or experience we have (correct or not.)

The only answer to this problem, in my eyes, is the fostering of a real intentional relationship between the differences at hand. But that's a dream answer that falls short in reality... right?

I'm still a bit of an idealist...

but can I become a more active one?

Isn't it interesting how these incidents on buses can often lead to so much more?