SPOTLIGHT ON THE COLOR ISSUE

My mother works for the Board of Education of New York. She was recently speaking to a woman, who is West Indian. During the conversation, the woman brings up another man, who is also West Indian. And, here was the woman’s comment:

“I saw his [name withheld] wife. He should be so honored that she married him because she is much lighter than he is.”

Yes, he should be HONORED that a lighter woman would marry his DARK a**! You can hear the implication of ugliness in her comments. It’s like…what is she doing with him?

Again, this is not the comment of a White woman. This is West Indian speaking of another West Indian. So, if these people can focus on color issues, then you’re damn straight we’ve got White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and Asians focusing on race/color in this country. This was a comment about color that came up, out of nowhere, in the workplace. So, let’s stop pretending and understand that people in the workplace are judged and valued based on race, color and other factors that have nothing to do with the job they were hired to perform!

I worked for a bank, in the Washington, D.C. area, where every Black person over a certain complexion was given an office or cubicle in the back of the office. We were completely out of sight and often didn’t even know when there were visitors, clients, etc. present.

Even a White coworker finally commented about the inside “joke” of the Black staff. And, the lighter Blacks were made uncomfortable. We were told it was completely coincidental or random that we were seated in certain sections of the office. But, when you’ve got Blacks making 6-figure (or close) salaries commenting on being a “darkie” in the office…you’ve got an issue. And, probably a legal one. This was clear segregation based on color. By the way, all of the individuals in question worked in HUMAN RESOURCES, where people know better than to do sh*t like this!!