“We’re here!” my dad says as he pulls the car into the parking lot.
After a long day at the shopping mall, my family decided to go to a restaurant that was relatively close. I was super excited to finally be able to eat out. I was so excited that I completely forgot that I didn’t bring my vaccination card or ID with me. During this time, New York still had the vaccine mandate in place, requiring all restaurants to check for proof of vaccination and ID. My excitement quickly faded into disappointment as I entered the restaurant. They’re definitely not going to let us in, I thought. Already expecting them to kick me and my family out, I had my foot halfway out the door. Once again, I was surprised to see that the manager let us in without a question. Regardless of being puzzled, I sat down at a table anyway. The manager, who also happens to be my father’s friend, must’ve seen my perplexed expression and proceeded to say,
“Ahh don’t worry about the vaccination cards. We are all the same race. We are essentially family. I trust you guys are all vaccinated and healthy. Plus, I’ve known you guys for a very long time.”
Everyone around me seemed to nod their head in agreement.
Was I the only one who thought this was out of the ordinary?
My grandma must’ve seen my expression as well and said encouragingly, “Aii you’re worrying too much. Let’s order some food and eat. Food makes everyone happy.” My grandpa also chimed in and said “It’s no big deal. We all know each other.” Whatever I guess. I just shrugged it off as if nothing happened. He probably didn’t check our vaccination cards because he knew our family personally.
After some time, the food finally came. The smell of freshly steamed fish and spices from the meat filled my nostrils and my mouth immediately began to water. It didn’t take long before I dug into it.
I had almost forgotten about what had happened when out of the corner of my eye, I saw another family enter the restaurant. They also happen to be the same race as us and once again, the workers also didn’t check their vaccination status. They just proceeded to let them in, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary. Hmm. This is definitely a bit suspicious. It doesn’t look like the manager knew their family, so why didn’t he check their vaccination status? This confirmed what the manager had said to me before, that since we are all the same race, there is a bond and a sense of trust. This thought had never occurred to me before, but I guess I didn’t mind that extra trust.
Perhaps ten minutes later, another family entered the restaurant, and this time, they were from a different race. A white family of 4 walked into the restaurant, all bundled up from the frigid weather. Sharing many common characteristics: tall, blond hair, and elegantly dressed, they definitely stood apart from everyone else at the restaurant.
Upon seeing a foreign family enter the restaurant, the workers immediately tensed up and went to greet them.
“Proof of vaccination and ID” one of the waiters said sternly.
Silence hung in the air as the waiter thoroughly checked their vaccination status and carefully checked if their faces matched the ID cards, even having multiple waiters check them. I haven’t seen such serious faces all night! The foreign family also seems to notice this and stops chatting with one another. Everyone just stayed there in silence for what seemed to be a decade. After one final grunt from the waiter, they lead the family inside, placing them at the far right corner of the restaurant.
Everyone in the restaurant seemed to stop talking for the smallest second to stare at the family as if to wonder “Who just walked in our territory?” I could practically hear them snickering. The pause was so brief that I would’ve missed it if I wasn’t paying attention.
Shortly afterward, the manager comes back to our table and notices us staring at the foreign family and half-jokingly says,
“We can’t have them reporting us on Yelp can we now?”
This seemed to catch me by surprise and caused me to laugh, which also caused my family to laugh along, but for a different reason.
At the end of the day, I’ve also come to realize that I’m comfortable around people of my own race because of the bond and built-in trust. It’s just something that is naturally there and how our culture unites us all. Therefore, I understand why we were let in without needing to check our vaccination. However, because there is a built-in trust in my race and culture, it often leads to mistrust of other races. Therefore, I also understand why the waiters had to check the white family’s vaccination status because there’s a chance they could report the restaurant.
There are subtle hints of racism in my life that I’ve never really noticed before because I was always surrounded by people of my own race. In this case, checking the vaccination status of the foreign family was one of them. However, these acts are oftentimes overlooked because of their subtleness. Although the foreign family felt the tension and change in attitude, many people in the restaurant wouldn’t even have noticed. The majority of the people would have missed the fact that the waiters triple-checked their IDs and seated them at the far end of the restaurant. Everyone was only paying attention to who walked into the restaurant, but not how the foreign family was treated upon entering, further demonstrating the mistrust between different races. These were all very subtle acts, but they sent a powerful message.
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