The moment that prompted me to write was when someone nearly stepped on my toes on an empty platform. I automatically took a step to the side to give him more space, even though he didn’t seem to acknowledge my presence. It almost made me feel self-conscious. Compliment is one thing, but why do I always seem to be the one thinking about other people, mostly white people, and whether they have enough space? It turns out I’m not the only one who suffers from this. There’s even a name for it: “racist sidewalk politics.”
I hear her coming from afar: “It’s not all about color, Hanan.” If only it were. Ignoring color is just as much of a problem as constantly overexposing it.
“I see no color” vs. “I see lots of color”
There seem to be two extremes of white people and their spatial awareness. On the one hand there are people who have a severe lack of this awareness. They don’t get out of the way, they don’t give space.
In fact, they sometimes hold you back without any doubt or embarrassment. As if it were the most normal thing to bump into someone without apologizing, or my personal pet peeve: as if it were normal to stick to someone’s back and breathe down their neck while standing in line.
It seems that the phrase “I don’t see color” has been taken somewhat literally, so they no longer see us literally. This so-called blindness to social differences actually reinforces them. Giving space and taking space is not trivial. It has always shown a hierarchy. And it still does. In the most deceptive ways.
Ignoring color is just as much a problem as constantly overexposing it.
On the other hand, some people see too much color, leading to a kind of hyperopia. As a person of color, we all have a story about someone crossing the street on purpose to avoid you, or someone refusing to sit next to you on the bus or train, even if it means having to sit awkwardly the entire time. Ride. These are microaggressions. They don’t go unseen and they’re certainly not “imperceptible.”
Microaggressions are sneaky. They sometimes try to make you doubt yourself. Like you’re exaggerating, overanalyzing everything and trying to make a problem out of everything.
Until you share your stories with other people of color and realize that there are commonalities. If you’re like me and start researching everything with prejudice, there’s nothing more reassuring than finding articles and research that validate your uncomfortable experiences. It shows that my feelings are valid and that they’re more than just a personal annoyance.
invisible borders
All forms of social behavior are patterns that we learn directly or indirectly. Spatial awareness among people of color goes beyond just physically getting out of everyone’s way. In general, we are always unconsciously concerned about how the “other” is looking at us, whether we are being too loud or difficult.
In theory, all public spaces are public, but in practice, the spatial awareness that has been drilled into us has made us realize that some public spaces are only for specific groups. This applies not only to people of color, but to anyone who deviates from the norm.
Take, for example, the homeless. As a society, we have decided that we don’t want to see them on our streets, because we don’t want to face the ugly truth that we don’t care enough about each other as a society. This leads to “hostile” architecture, also known as anti-homeless architecture, like benches with extra armrests so no one can sleep on them.
It is precisely this self-evidence that poses the greatest danger.
And then we haven’t even talked about people with limited mobility and how they struggle with spatial difficulties. All this goes to show that in addition to the emotional aspect of spatial awareness, there are also physical manifestations in our society that only widen the gap. It tries to force us to take for granted this division and the hierarchy that comes with it. And it is precisely this self-evidence that poses the greatest danger.
If you ask me why white people seem to lack spatial awareness, my instinctive answer would be that it has to do with a historical desire to appropriate space. This has somehow seeped into our everyday movements that we no longer think about. Isn’t that a bit simplistic, I hear you think, but is it true?
For example, until the early 20th century in the United States during the Jim Crow era, there was an informal rule that blacks had to stand aside in favor of whites. The consequences were dire if they did not. Given the West’s shared history and shared ideas, including behavior, this suddenly became much less likely than expected. Because, again, all forms of social behavior are patterns that we learn directly or indirectly. The good news: what we have learned, we can also unlearn.
challenge accepted
As I stood on the platform and moved aside to make room for the man who shamelessly wanted to take my seat, I said nothing. Once I gathered my thoughts and realized that it shouldn’t be taken for granted that I was interacting with his spatial awareness when he didn’t seem to see me, it was already too late. The train had arrived and the man had disappeared into one of the carriages. But it was not too late to recognize and break the suspicious patterns.
It’s never too late to recognize and break questionable patterns.
so i have a new one challenge To people of color: For a week, don’t automatically avoid people you meet in public. I guarantee that by the end of the week you’ll have bruises here and there from various elbows and shoulders you’ve received, plus glares from (white) people who expect you to get out of the way, confused because you haven’t. Don’t do it.
Like all social issues, it’s more complex and layered than it seems. As a white woman, you can do the exact same experiment and automatically avoid men for a week. You’ll get the same result, literally and figuratively. And it comes down to the same obviousness: certain minority groups and women expect their needs to be met, always and everywhere.
Let me be clear, I’m not saying you shouldn’t be polite to others, and I’m certainly not saying that every collision or poor judgment of space is always socially charged. See you later! Even online, I try to keep spatial awareness in mind to make sure I don’t offend anyone and to avoid putting the wrong words in my mouth. However, I am a big advocate for being considerate of one another, but it has to be reciprocal.
What I want to say to my fellow white people is: Be more aware of space. And I want to say to people of color: They often take up space without shame!
Hanan Al-Qaddouri (23 years old) is a student of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University.
“Total coffee specialist. Hardcore reader. Incurable music scholar. Web guru. Freelance troublemaker. Problem solver. Travel trailblazer.”
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