>Let me take it a step further...
>
>I was working as a temp in a mailroom for 2 months. Did a
>great job, couldn't have done anything more really, the people
>I worked with recommended me for the job, everyone wanted me
>to work there. They ended up hiring a man of color who had not
>previously been with the company. They told me he had more
>mailroom experience. But really how much experience do you
>need to work in a mailroom? Especially one that I had been
>working in for 2 months and got to know exactly how everything
>works.

Well ... there's a million and one stories out there. Like I said, not all of them go neatly along with the big picture of how racism works. It is just not that tidy. Its messy, and people's individual stories sometimes contradict the big picture when looked at on an individual basis. The case often is that among working class people, racial divisions are exploited to further divide working people. Historically poor white people have been given a "leg up" on people of color to make them feel superior ... certain benefits. Now ever since the 80s and Reganomics, race has been used to divide working people using the notion of "affirmative action" to piss off white workers by thinking they are losing their jobs to people of color who are not as competent as they are ("really how much experience do you need to work in a mailroom?"). The fact is that you were a TEMP worker, and were hired to do a job temporarily until the mail company found a permanent position. They finally ended up hiring someone who had some credentials and experience. Happens all the time.


>maybe myself being white had an effect on me
>not getting that job. Because I know this company feels really
>strongly about diversity.

again, "diversity" and "affirmative action" is now used to divide working people along racial lines, pissing off working class whites who have historically gotten benefits because of their whiteness. (edit) "Diversity" also serves to help white people feel less guilty about reaping the benefits they inherited from the legacies of white supremacy and racial exploitation in this country. They feel that if they can have a "diverse" work environment (read: often a single black person that can add "color" to their workplace or organization) they have done their part at ending the systemic inequities inherent in the system.

>The point is I just don't buy into the fact that because
>you're of color it's harder to get a job. It's hard for
>ANYBODY. I've experienced it firsthand. I don't think the
>system is any harder for you than it is for me.

And you know this how? Because of your experience living in the US as a white person? You can only know if you live as a person of color ... or take a person of color's word for it (something that you are not presently willing to do).

>And when I say struggling to find a job, I mean it. They moved
>me over to a different position, but now it's only part time
>and I barely make any money. And I'm STILL a temp.

All of this is not to say that white people don't struggle to get by, are not down-and-out, etc. The majority of people living below the poverty line in the US are white.

>I don't have anything to do with the way things are run
>nor do I have anything to do with what happened several
>hundred years ago.

true, but you live in a world that was created from that exploitation. The wealth of this country was created out of slavery, AS WELL AS the social and cultural institutions that we take part in every day.

>My best friend was black.

*sigh*

>I always have and
>always will view everyone as the same, as an individual.

Okay, this is a key point. And I agree with it to a degree, BUT the idea that everyone is an individual is a CLASSIC white notion. It has tis roots in the Enlightenment, and was brought over to this country by the same righ white folks that made great fortunes off the backs of the Africans they exploited the labor from (while talking about freedom and liberty for all). White people all over the place see themselves as individuals, and understand it as the basis for all reality ... this is what defines Eurocentrism (the notion that European ideas and cultural values and practices are "normal" while everyone else's are somehow exotic of part of a distince culture). Many people the wrold over do not hold this belief that everyone is an individual. I eprsonally think that it is arrogant to imagine that you are not a part of a greater whole ... a collective, or community. Yet it is a well-documented fact that this country was founded upon the principles of individualism, which came out of a specific cultural and historical context, and gave rise to a particular worldview that was supported by financial institutions (capitalism ... "bootstraps" mentality) and social ideologies (color-blindness) thaty help to, in the end, subtlely perpetuate racism through denying people of color the truth of their collective exerience and cultural expressions (even though these things are also varied within the community).

>What your heritage is or supposedly who "your people" are
>makes not one bit of difference to me, and it shouldn't to
>anyone.

I am white BTW.

peace.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
who are you









really