“Freepers keep assuring me these folks exist—but they are Unicorns to me—”
I worked with a massive black former college football star who had a degree in software engineering. His speech was peppered with “dis, dat, does and dem.” I knew he was an idiot, but he was a nice guy and we chatted all the time. One day the whole department was in a meeting discussing a failure that had the had the potential to cost the company millions of dollars. We had all the symptoms and he quietly said, “I think it might be “this” and we could test by “whatever.” Nobody else noticed. He was ignored. My hair stood on end. I thought, “damn! That’s brilliant. I wish I’d said that.” He had taken what we knew and made a very logical, and as it turned out correct, assessment. He’d skipped all the intervening steps. A few minutes later an old white manager with no technical background said exactly the same thing, but in better English. I saw him react, but he said nothing.
Later, I told him I understood that he was smart, but as long as he spoke the language of his black background he was not going anywhere. He said, “But I need to be true to who I am.” I said, “Living well is the best revenge. If you want to get ahead you have to talk to white people in a language they respect and ‘dis, dat, dem and dose’ is going to cause them to just ignore you. I realize how smart you are but as long as you talk like that they’ll never notice.”
I made him so mad he didn’t speak to me for weeks. We sat across from one another, so it was awkward. Like usual, I’d say good morning, or see you tomorrow and he’d turn away. Then, one day he came and sat in my visitor’s chair and apologized. His wife agreed with me, and he’d hired a speech coach and signed up for English classes. When I left there, he sounded amazing, and he was running a department with nine employees. (Doing much better than me.)
So, they’re there. But we might not recognize them because that “not acting white” thing is holding them back.
Good story; thanks; bless you.
So, they’re there. But we might not recognize them because that “not acting white” thing is holding them back.
But it did take eyes to see and ears to hear............
I was brought up to look at individuals for character, then racism happened.
“not acting white” thing is holding them back.”
I have thought long and hard on this question since I did not want to be one of those bad racists I was supposed to hate.
Experience has taught me the following:
1. IQ follows a normal curve for any group and the black IQ curve is way to the left of the curve of everyone else. That is even more true in Africa than in the US.
2. People of less than average or average intelligence can still make major contributions if they are challenged and test with tough love that tells them the truth about their shortcomings. Most blacks never get that tough love from whites scared of being called racist—or worse, fired or sued. When I think of major improvements I have made in my life it was after someone insulted me and told me how badly I was doing. That was my wake up call to get my act together and fix the problem.
3. What “seals the deal” is the inner lack of self confidence that plagues blacks, particularly professionals. They know they have received special favors. They know they have more responsibility than they know how to handle. It is a brutal way to live your life—where nobody is talking truthfully to anybody else.
Not acting white permeates black culture..........