When White People Stop Identifying Themselves As White, I'll Drop African American. (interviews, companies)
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Nobody in their right mind would claim to be white in this society. It's like saying I don't want the promotion or raise but I'll do the extra work and responsibility anyway; I need the job but since I'm so "privileged" it will go to someone of a more "downtrodden" race; I'm happy to pay so much in taxes even though I don't qualify for any gov't give-away (and never will, despite political promises).
I have a family member who is 1/4 hispanic, and if he had mentioned this to the Personnel Dept when he joined the company 25 years ago I'm sure he'd be getting 100 times the pay--and NONE of the stress/misery/hassle.
As a bank manager in the South, I noticed some interesting things.
First of all, we had no problem attracting qualified FEMALE applicants of various races - mainly black, white, and Hispanic. However, in all my hiring years there, we never had one black male applicant pass the screening process. Out of our whole, which included East Texas and North Louisiana, I don't think we had one single black male working there - they rarely applied, and when they did, they could not pass the screening and background check.
African American women could apply and pass and excel any day of the week.
When I needed to discipline or terminate someone, race was ALWAYS an issue, and it should never have been. If a person was a minority, I had to OVER document everything. To be fair, if they were over 50, or had health issues, I had to jump through the same hoops. But a white male? I could boot him out the door with impunity (not that I did so, but I could have).
When I first began working there, I was hired in as a personal banker, at the top of that pay grade level, because I had prior experience. My coworker was an AA female, who had no prior experience, and who had started about the same time I did. She was so inexperienced in business in general and banking in particular, that she did not even know how to open her email (I had to teach her basically how to use the computer). She could not formulate a letter or email. She never did learn how to use our loan system. She was beautiful, and had a great personality, and was a sweet person, but she was simply not a good banker. Her English skills were abysmal. When I started working there (about three months after her), soon the bulk of our customers started requesting me. She thought this was because I was white. She never seemed to connect the dots on that one. The customer preferred me because I was efficient and knew what the heck I was doing!
She took so many sick days that she was literally out an average of 1 day a week (yes, folks, that's 52 days a year), AND took every bit of her sick days and all her vacation of course, as well as all funeral pay, jury duty, you name it. The woman was hardly ever even at work! Still - it took two years - TWO YEARS - to finally terminate her. Meanwhile, I progressed and moved into managerial positions, while she fussed about how I got all the bonuses and all the promotions (our bonuses were based SOLELY on production).
Now - to be fair, I know that there stupid people come in all colors. But my point is that BECAUSE the company was always so worried about legal ramifications and lawsuits, this worthless employee received full pay and benefits for THREE YEARS before she was finally let go. The ONLY reason why her lack of performance was tolerated for so long was because of the color of her skin. If she'd been a white boy, she'd have been kicked to the curb within a few months.
White privilege does exist, but so does minority privilege. We can't have an honest discussion about these issues unless we ourselves determine to look at the whole picture objectively and honestly.
Nobody in their right mind would claim to be white in this society. It's like saying I don't want the promotion or raise but I'll do the extra work and responsibility anyway; I need the job but since I'm so "privileged" it will go to someone of a more "downtrodden" race; I'm happy to pay so much in taxes even though I don't qualify for any gov't give-away (and never will, despite political promises).
Oh that's a crock and a half. This narrative is old too. The only gov't give aways that are happening are for our invisible friend harvey the rabbit. The 1% with no allegiance to this nation set on maximum exploit. This misdirection of blame and smarmy math needs a kick in the pants once and for good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NHartphotog
I'd NEVER choose to be "white" in America today, and in fact when I change careers (hopefully soon) I think I'd better paint myself very dark and use brown contacts. I wonder if I'd still be ignored by sales clerks and restaurant greeters?
If it's attention you most crave there's only 2 ways to get it. Wear a hoodie with a fearful look on your face or wave a wad of cash around in a superpac that misdirects blame at the very people you plan on stealing from. Problem solved, or do you want a better solution?
After reading innumerable threads and comments regarding racial self-identification, lack of assimilation, and screeds about multiculturalism I thought to myself why is it that I've never read a thread or comment advocating the ending of the classification referred to as white? I mean if African American is so offensive because of its alleged inaccuracy then why not do a way with the term white, after all, white people are exactly white or anything close to it. So, in the hopes of bringing about that much touted color blind society, I would like to make the following offer.
Do away with the idea or whiteness and I will stop identifying myself as an African American and ask others to do the same.
What do you think?
It aint the white conservatives doing it. Its you liberals who like to catagorize people.
My coworker was an AA female, who had no prior experience, and who had started about the same time I did... She was so inexperienced in business in general and banking in particular, that she did not even know how to open her email (I had to teach her basically how to use the computer). She could not formulate a letter or email. She never did learn how to use our loan system.... Meanwhile, I progressed and moved into managerial positions, while she fussed about how I got all the bonuses and all the promotions (our bonuses were based SOLELY on production).
...But my point is that BECAUSE the company was always so worried about legal ramifications and lawsuits, this worthless employee received full pay and benefits for THREE YEARS before she was finally let go. The ONLY reason why her lack of performance was tolerated for so long was because of the color of her skin.
This is administrative incompetence. They hired someone inexperienced to fill the job, but never clued her in on the difference between a job and a career? While she was fussing at you, you could have invested training right there. But you didn't. Someone invested the time training you, and you don't see fit to pay it forward? Houston, we have a problem.
This is administrative incompetence. They hired someone inexperienced to fill the job, but never clued her in on the difference between a job and a career? While she was fussing at you, you could have invested training right there. But you didn't. Someone invested the time training you, and you don't see fit to pay it forward? Houston, we have a problem.
I was actually going to write the exact same thing. Thank you.
This woman obviously never should have been hired if she 1) did not have the skill set to do the job and 2) no one was willing to train her (and not complain about it)
Funny how some can only see the shortcomings of others yet cannot see their own.
It aint the white conservatives doing it. Its you liberals who like to catagorize people.
Really? That toothless man in the ozarks carrying on about a half breed president is liberal? Funny, he insists he's conservative. Unless of course conservatives stand up and tell him he isn't. And they never do.
This is administrative incompetence. They hired someone inexperienced to fill the job, but never clued her in on the difference between a job and a career? While she was fussing at you, you could have invested training right there. But you didn't. Someone invested the time training you, and you don't see fit to pay it forward? Houston, we have a problem.
Uhhh, no.
For starters, she was hired before me. She went through the same training I went through. When I was working in the same office as her, I TRIED to help her, and teach her, but it's a little hard to do so when the person is out sick so often, and when she is there, she's on the phone with her doctor, her mama, her husband, her interior decorator, etc.
As for my training, I made it a priority to continue to demand additional training in order to progress - and I did progress. She never got off first base, and that was her own choice and her own doing. Also, I never missed a day at work, and in fact often worked overtime. My sales were out the roof but it was because I worked hard. And stayed off my cell phone!
By the way, this woman was 35 years old. If you don't know the difference between a job and a career by that time (and after a college education to boot), then sorry - I can't help you.
This is administrative incompetence. They hired someone inexperienced to fill the job, but never clued her in on the difference between a job and a career? While she was fussing at you, you could have invested training right there. But you didn't. Someone invested the time training you, and you don't see fit to pay it forward? Houston, we have a problem.
It isn't administrative incompetence. I dealt with a similar thing when I worked as a cashier. My supervisor did whatever she wanted even if the store manager didn't like it. One day she grabbed the arm of a 16yo worker and left bruise marks on her arm. The store was all set to terminate her, but she pulled the race card and they backed off. It took the parent of the teen threatening to sue the company for them to finally terminate the supervisor. To this day, when I run into her, she claims she was fired for her race. This is the most extreme case I have seen personally, but I have dealt with similar issues when I was an assistant store manager. What always annoyed me was that if two people,one black the other Caucasian, applied for a job, had the same education, experience, and training I had to hire the black applicant without question. I couldn't take into consideration personality or how well each would get along with the crew. Luckily the two times this happened to me the Caucasian applicant had the personality of a sponge, so I lucked out.
How is affirmative action not a minority privilege? There are countless scholarships out there designed for minorities only, but they can also apply for any of the scholarships I can, there is one "white" scholarship that gives like $200, but they are considered racists because it is reserved for Caucasians. How is that not a minority privilege?
I was actually going to write the exact same thing. Thank you.
This woman obviously never should have been hired if she 1) did not have the skill set to do the job and 2) no one was willing to train her (and not complain about it)
Funny how some can only see the shortcomings of others yet cannot see their own.
She went thru the same banking training I went through. Not only that, but the bank required ongoing training and she went through all that as well.
Furthermore, I worked with her, trying to get her up to speed. But she was not really that interested in any of that. She was building a house (which took over a year) and was much more interested in getting on the phone with her builder and her interior designer than going over how to open her email.
And what college educated 35 year old woman doesn't know how to open her email or use Microsoft Office?????????? Sheeze!
In order to move into the position that she and I both held, we had to go through 2 weeks of intensive training, which she did - and she passed.
Like I said, she had a great personality. I have no doubt that she is plenty smart. So frankly, I don't know what her problem was, but I wasn't part of it.
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