Discrimination

As a white man between the ages of 18 and 55, I have not often felt the pain of discrimination. Some people would count all the anti-discriminating laws as discrimination against someone in my position, but I find these people are usually just upset because being a white male doesn't carry the same guarantees it used to. Granted, knowing that X number of interview spots must be held aside for certain races or genders might seem to stack the deck against me, but that just simply means I need to be better. Hopefully, with time, there won't be a need for that, but a world where someone can be excluded from even the hope of a job because of gender, skin color or other non-work related trait doesn't seem to be a fair trade off.

Where was I? Right, as I said: not often discriminated against. In fact, to borrow a phrase from the British, if I am being completely honest, I have gotten more than I deserved. I should never have graduate from high school, more or less have been admitted to as good a school as Monmouth. But that's a story for another time.

Today, as I walked home with Jamie and Rachel, having left the Ship and Castle, we decided to pop in for some chips (French fries, for the Americans). Outside the place, two younger college men stood smoking.

"Hey, mate!" one yelled as we got close, "You're wearing your hat like a Yank."

This was true, but because I am so unaccustomed to hearing that term used, I thought he might have mistaken my Cubs hat for a Yankees hat. You could line up any number of the British soccer teams gear in front of me, and I couldn't tell you which was for the Trottenham Hotspurs or the Wolverhampton Wolves. I could understand someone confusing a baseball hat.

"You're hat, mate," he continued, "you're wearing it backwards, like a fuckin' Yank."

It was at this point, that I realized he meant I was wearing my hat in a way prototypically American.

"I am American," I said.

He stopped, clearly not expecting this answer.

"But, your in Britain. You should wear your hat like that man."

At this point I lost interest in this conversation and continued into the chip shop where he continued to shout belligerently about the "proper" way to wear a hat. Or, rather, in his words, "a cap." The chip shop owner went out to remind him that, in fact, he had been told before not to shout at customers.

I guess I should have been happy. I mean from a distance, I looked like I was British, which says something about my efforts to assimilate. Hell, I spelled color with a "u" the other day, "colour". However, to this point in my life, I was unaware of there being a "way" to wear your hat that could be associated with your nationality. For a while in the early 1990s, it could associate you with certain street gangs, but forward and backwards were always acceptable styles. It seemed pretty straight forward to me: some people wore hats forward, some people wear them backwards. I used to play a lot of basketball, and wore hats to keep the sweat out of my eyes. Over time, I eventually just took to like wearing hats backward.

It's also true that you don't see the number of hats, baseball-style hats at least, worn here in Britain as you do in America. Not having baseball might account for why. And cricket hats or rugby helmets lack the fashion appeal of a baseball hat (it should be noted that most cricket players wear baseball-like hats now). The oversized, knit winter caps seem to be popular, regardless of the weather, but I find my head gets hot enough when it's warm out that I don't need to assist how much my scalp sweats.

In short, I could understand his consternation, but I don't understand:

a) his approach: Firstly, I was not his "mate" so it seemed odd to start a confrontational conversation that way; and secondly, he seemed intent just to let me know that I was, in fact, wearing my hat in a specific way that could bespeak a false nationality. I'm not sure what the purpose was to alert me to this fact. Maybe if I were on fire, blissfully walking down the street, he might have seen a good reason to get my attention and tell me what should be obvious, but to inform someone of the way they are wearing their hat seems, well, pointless.

b) why this was a problem: Okay. This is a bit of a misstatement. I could understand being a bit miffed by a native countryman exclaiming to the world that he prefers a different country's hat wearing technique. Once he found I was American, though, it would seem that he should let the issue drop. It's not like the British have certain laws that America doesn't, and I was flaunting these laws. I wasn't wandering around the city brandishing a legally obtained firearm; I wasn't loudly proclaiming how awesome having an elected President feels: I was wearing a hat.

In the end, I didn't take off or change the way I was wearing my hat. It wasn't a problem, and as an American, I'm not likely to change what isn't a problem (it could also be argued that, as American, I might not even change that which is clearly understood as a problem).

To close, I leave you with a story by Ron White, regarding hats and arrest records.