Letters to the Editor
-
Why mention colour?
I'm just wondering why the LW needed to mention that the neighbor was not white? I can understand why there was a mention of financial status and infirmity, as it explains why the neighbour cannot keep up her house, but I do not understand why skin tone was included. Why correlate the elderly neighbour's racial profile with the appearance of her home? Why assume someone else is?
If the neighbour was white, would you have written this letter? Same house, same age, same infirmities -- would you have written the letter? I doubt it; you'd have assumed the woman and her son capable of making their own decisions instead of infantilizing them.
Ask your neighbours if they want the plants. If not, ask if they'd like assistance removing them. That's the neighborly thing to do. And then you should sit back and take a long, hard look at the extent of your own racial stereotyping and the extent to which you project it unto others.