Blame Shifting and Height Prejudice Explained Using Controversial Racial Analogy

This story came from a black gentleman as an analogy for short people who shout down other short people:

"I'll take it a step farther with my criticism of those who have been brainwashed to maintain the status quo. Now, what I'm about to say now will probably ruffle a few jimmies, but I don't really care because the analogy is apt, though the stakes aren't as high.


So, my dad's side of the family is from a Southern State (in the U.S.). And, he is old enough to have lived through racial segregation in the South. So, he was telling me that in those days, the law was that he and other black people who rode public transport had to sit a the back of the bus in the "colored" section, behind white people. Now, everyone already knows this. But, he told me something more interesting. He said it wasn't like the movies if a black person refused to move at first. He said that you were unlikely to be dragged out of the bus or beaten or anything like that. Instead, the bus driver would ask you to move further back. If you didn't comply, he would stop the bus completely and he wouldn't move until you went to the colored section of the bus. This, combined with peer pressure, was usually enough to make people move without calling the Police because other people would be angry that they may be late to work and lose their jobs.


So, he was telling me about this one time he was sitting in the Colored Section of the bus and this other (black) woman sat on the last row of the Whites Only section. Now, there were hardly any white people on the bus at this time. But, the bus driver stopped the bus and asked her to move back. She argued at first, but all of the other black people at the back of the bus were mad at her and shouting at her to move from that seat.


So, you see, because they lived under a society of constant and unquestioned oppression and White Supremacy, it never even occurred to the people on that bus to be angry at the unjust policy. No, they were angry at the woman who was violating the racist policy because it is easier to "get along to get along" and they didn't want to be late for work. My dad was ashamed to admit that even he was angry at the woman for her defiance. It wasn't until years after the Civil Rights movement that he realized how brainwashed he'd been.