So, how am I going to fight stereotypes? I know they'll never go away, that's unrealistic. I know if I get angry at someone for telling me to "get back in the kitchen," I'm giving them the reaction that they want. But where do even begin that fight? Where is an appropriate place to point out how incredibly annoying it is? I don't want to be "that lady that can't take a joke" either...
I decided, after a lot of thought and debate, to approach the aforementioned officer that I yelled at during scenarios. While I didn't really prepare a nice speech, or organize it quite like my Psychology teacher had in mind, I went for it anyway.
Firstly, I apologized for my unprofessional behavior. Made him know I was serious and wanted to really talk about his comment. He freaked a tad, I think. He lost his smile real quick...
I told him why I thought it was inappropriate. To sum it up, I said,"When you're out on the street, you represent everyone in uniform. If you lead civilians to believe that you are a racist, or sexist, or homophobic, they're going to assume that every cop is. And that defeats the purpose of your responsibility, which is to protect civilians. If no one wants your help, and no one trusts you, it makes your job a lot harder." I made sure to emphasize the "brotherhood" that he is in, and how he made his whole unit look bad with that one comment.
After that part of the speech, I concluded with a small encouraging statement, "You're doing well, and you'll go far. Just remember why you became an officer." With that, he said, "Thank you ma'am. I'll try harder next time," and he was off.
Now, if he really listened, or he really even gave a crap about what I said, I don't know. Not sure I ever will.
But my feelings were a tad bit better. I know I'm not an expert. I'm not a seasoned officer. I have no idea what I'm doing out there, I just try to help the officers see things from the victims stand-point; I have a very small role. But I feel that it is incredibly important to make sure that they know what exactly their words can do. A man or woman in uniform holds a lot of responsibility, and can be very influential.
During the whole ordeal, I seriously thought the dude was going to punch me in the face. He stand a good 7 inches taller than me and his forearms were the size of my thighs. I just thought, "Oh no, what have I gotten myself into...why did I even bring it up again?" However, I persevered for the greater good!
I hope that he will at least consider what I said. I haven't made him make another comment, but maybe he was just hyper aware that I was there and kept his mouth shut (so I am the lady who can't take a joke). And he probably told all of his buddies and now they all probably laugh at me.
I hope not. I really hope that he'll develop a new attitude towards his "racial profiling" tendencies. He really was a good cop, and I'd hate to see him get in trouble down the road because he muttered some stupid comment under his breath. And here in Oregon, that can ruin an entire career.
ANYWHO
With no regard to my latest outburst, I have been keeping up on my goal. It has been hard. It has been rough. It must end.
I still have a ways to go though. Since I have been travelling I haven't really had a chance to incorporate what I've learned into flying, but I think just letting information sink it is a good start.
I've missed 3 days. Which is sad. But it's hard to keep track of my progress or whether or not I did it if I don't have my calendar (I left it at home because I thought it would be odd if I just carried a whiteboard with a bunch of check-marks on it around). THAT isn't really a good excuse though. I've actually found, in long car rides and afternoons waiting for lunch, that it's nice to have something to read while I'm alone. I'm sure to on-lookers it is completely weird/depressing to see a 20 year old woman sit and read a giant textbook by herself in a cafe, but hey, it works!
Once I return home, I'll post my progress!
Enough of my novel. Proud of you if you made it this far. You deserve a cookie.
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