Mahalia goes shopping for a dress at a boutique store in Chelsea. She is accompanied by her classmate Stephanie. There are twelve other customers shopping in the store, all of whom are white, like Stephanie. Write an expression to represent the total number of customers who may ask Mahalia to get something for them because they will assume that she is an employee of the store.
A cop pulls Raquan’s car over on a Friday night. His best friend Terrence is in the passenger seat. His girlfriend Ashleigh and cousin Kris are in the backseat. When Ashleigh reaches down to pick up a cell phone she dropped on the floor, the officer approaching the car draws his gun and begins shooting. To shield her, Kris pulls Ashleigh toward him and away from the window. He is also shot. Ashleigh is pronounced dead at the scene. Kris dies at the hospital four hours after the “incident.” The media spends a total of nine hours reporting on Kris’s misdemeanor charge for possession of marijuana last summer and one hour covering the officer’s past reports of brutality and misconduct. What is the ratio of minutes spent covering Kris’s record to the minutes spent on the officer’s past? What percentage of the officer’s salary is likely to be withheld while the “incident” is under investigation?
At the beginning of every class, professors at Noriadah’s small liberal arts college take attendance by calling every student’s name. Noriadah has four white professors and one biracial teaching assistant who runs a bi-weekly recitation after lecture. What percentage of Noriadah’s instructors are likely to reduce her name to “Nori” without her consent?
During the Q&A segment following a talk, a member of the audience asks a popular black writer what she thinks about the sexual harassment allegations of a famous black male entertainer. Amid the audience’s gasps, the author points out that no such allegations have been made against the entertainer and that white women must be careful of the claims they make about black men, especially given this country’s history. The audience member meekly meanders back to her seat clutching her actual pearls. Out of the three hundred guests in the audience, one-hundred and thirty are white. Approximately what percentage of the audience is likely to be more concerned with the feelings of the woman who was justly scolded for an ignorant question instead of being concerned about the danger of the question itself?
Sasha is one of two women and the only person of color on an executive team of nine people. During a debate about whether the organization should expand to another location, Sasha is the first to mention the competitive edge other competing organizations have in terms of talent acquisition because of their expansions in the last five years. What percentage of Sasha’s teammates are positioned to repeat her point before it can be heard and acknowledged as a valuable perspective?
Josiah’s family gathers at his grandmother’s house to celebrate his eleventh birthday. Over cake, Josiah tells his father that in a few years he will be old enough to drive his mother and father home from his birthday parties. The family laughs and Josiah watches his mother grab his father’s hand as she always does when she feels the need to keep her husband calm. What percentage of the men in Josiah’s family who hear the comment will feel obligated to begin teaching him what to do to increase his chances of staying alive if he’s ever pulled over by the police?
Sam is reported missing when his mother returns from the ice cream truck and does not find him on the swing where she left him. She searches every corner of the park, screaming his name. Other concerned parents grab the hands of their little ones and help. A retired school teacher sits Sam’s mother down and helps her catch her breath before calling 911. Several cops arrive within minutes and place barricades at the park’s two entrances and exits. They begin searching the woods nearby for a six-year-old boy with rosy cheeks, a red hat and a blue T-shirt. A helicopter is called in for aerial support. The local news station catches the story and arrives on the scene shortly after the police. The reporter layers on makeup as her cameraman takes one final drag of his cigarette. The red hat is found near a creek. There are no signs of rosy cheeks or a blue T-shirt. Within an hour, Sam’s face is shown across screens all around the nation. Reporters from national news outlets consume Sam’s small town, and the local diner gets more business that one day than it did in the previous ten. How many of the news outlets covering Sam’s disappearance are likely to have also reported on the disappearances of Maurice, Phoenix, April, Ashani, Genelle, Muna, Teliea, Diontae, and/or Amir when they went missing?