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Originally Posted by MarySue33 I think you just hit the nail on the head, TOM. This is exactly the kind of thing that some of my friends shared with me. One said that he was 'conveniently' left off group emails for meeting times by particular team members and his secretary would come rushing into his office at the time of the meeting because they were calling to inquire where he was. He would walk into the meeting late and every head would turn. Sneaky is a good way to describe it.
White people who say they are 'color blind' is another thing that several of my friends have commented on. If you have an honest, open conversation with a black friend, he or she will tell you that 'colorblindness' as it relates to racial and ethnic differences does not truly exist. They make a good point. If someone were to point me out to someone from across a somewhat crowded room, they would likely say "she's the short, heavyset woman over there in the blue dress". If they were to point my friend out, they might say, "he is the African-American man in the blue shirt". If there was a third friend with us, they might refer to her as the "Asian woman in the red dress." Did you notice the difference? I was the only one whose race was not noted as a descriptor. I now see their point. I teased him and said, "Just as long as you don't say...she's that short, FAT white woman...I'm ok with that." |
I used to piss off my coworkers, when even though everyone in the room (or area or truck) was White, I would still describe a person "as that white guy who..." or start telling a joke with "three White guys were..." or say something like, "most White people think that..." basically mocking them. As you say, they told stories and only mentioned someone's race or ethnicity when it wasn't White, or told jokes where race was not relevant but still mentioned race.