READER HIT WITH VERBAL ASSAULT ATTRIBUTED TO ANOTHER MINORITY!
Dear Readers: Don’t you love when a White person at work says something offensive to you, but shields themselves by using quotes or referencing other information that has been stated by someone who is a minority?
That just makes it all okay, doesn’t it? Not! Black people are not a homogenous race. You can always find someone Black who will swear up and down that there is no racism or will say things that would seem to contradict the arguments presented by “most” Blacks. Every person is entitled to their point of view. But, some Whites, when it is convenient to them, will take the speech of a Black person and will quote from that person as if they are repeating what they heard at the Burning Bush!
An anonymous reader has shared her experience at a meeting. For the life of me, I can’t understand how Bill Cosby’s positions on the African American community seemed appropriate for a work-related meeting, but he was quoted—according the reader. Here’s the email I received.
Hello Mary:
I went to a meeting where the presenter was discussing how to get along with all personalities in project management. One of the personalities discussed was the person who says things that need to be said. The example she used at the time was Bill Cosby and what he said about poor people and how that was something that needed to be said. During question and answer I told her that I had been offended by her reference since I was a single mother and had gone through bad times at different periods of my life. Her response was I had misunderstood her reference. At the end of the presentation she recieved thunderous claps from the majority white audience and a black woman walked up to me and told me that maybe I needed to go to the minority version of the meeting, an asian walked up to me and started talking to me about being the only woman at her job and in her graduating class, and a white woman came up and apologized to me. I am so grateful for your post because since this incident I've been feeling as if I had the problem.
From the blogger: YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PROBLEM! That’s part of the game. People will make you feel like you are sensitive and are overreacting to things they have said that they know may have crossed a line or may have intended to have crossed a line. Anonymous, I’d like to hear back from you as to whether this presenter was an in-house worker or was brought in to give this presentation from an outside organization. Readers, what are your thoughts on this?
That just makes it all okay, doesn’t it? Not! Black people are not a homogenous race. You can always find someone Black who will swear up and down that there is no racism or will say things that would seem to contradict the arguments presented by “most” Blacks. Every person is entitled to their point of view. But, some Whites, when it is convenient to them, will take the speech of a Black person and will quote from that person as if they are repeating what they heard at the Burning Bush!
An anonymous reader has shared her experience at a meeting. For the life of me, I can’t understand how Bill Cosby’s positions on the African American community seemed appropriate for a work-related meeting, but he was quoted—according the reader. Here’s the email I received.
Hello Mary:
I went to a meeting where the presenter was discussing how to get along with all personalities in project management. One of the personalities discussed was the person who says things that need to be said. The example she used at the time was Bill Cosby and what he said about poor people and how that was something that needed to be said. During question and answer I told her that I had been offended by her reference since I was a single mother and had gone through bad times at different periods of my life. Her response was I had misunderstood her reference. At the end of the presentation she recieved thunderous claps from the majority white audience and a black woman walked up to me and told me that maybe I needed to go to the minority version of the meeting, an asian walked up to me and started talking to me about being the only woman at her job and in her graduating class, and a white woman came up and apologized to me. I am so grateful for your post because since this incident I've been feeling as if I had the problem.
From the blogger: YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PROBLEM! That’s part of the game. People will make you feel like you are sensitive and are overreacting to things they have said that they know may have crossed a line or may have intended to have crossed a line. Anonymous, I’d like to hear back from you as to whether this presenter was an in-house worker or was brought in to give this presentation from an outside organization. Readers, what are your thoughts on this?
posted by S. Mary Wills at 10:29 AM
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