Is 'white' the only color of success?

Christian Science Monitor ^ | October 31, 2005 | Marilyn Gardner

[Wonder Warthog]

"In fairness, though, I've seen the same thing happen with white males who have thick southern accents. They'd be very professional, but when they spoke to certain people they'd suddenly go completely redneck. I'm sure it was every bit as career-stopping as my former manager's behavior."

They may not even be conscious of it. My wife noted that whenever I "go home" to the South and start talking with old friends, that I immediately "revert" to "Southern-speak".

Problem was, I had no idea that I was doing so---it was totally subconscious.

[gaijin]

That and people whining about reverse discrimination

I want you to show me where I was "whining about reverse discrimination".

[Exton1]

The truth is that minorities are unfairly given opportunities they do not deserve, because of affirmative action. If they want to correct the situation, then eliminate affirmative action and all minority set asides. When there is fair acceptance, then people will know you got the job legitimately, and not because your only qualification was skin color. The minorities should do what white males do, when they are discriminated against, they start there own companies.

Also, why do these cry pieces never mention, Oprah Winfrey, or Bill Cosby, or the sport figures who are some of the richest people in the country. They have seemed to do just fine and did not need affirmative action.

[randog]

While the proverbial glass ceiling remains one obstacle for women and minorities, Hewlett identifies another barrier - a "Jell-O floor" that keeps them mired in negative stereotypes.

Negative stereotypes, like 'women are more likely to sue for sexual harassment'?

[Clemenza]

have no idea what it is but alot of minorities i meet at college, are loud, and they don't speak proper english. It's not like they can't speak english, they just don't. I don't why everything thinks people, or society shouldn't make you do anything, but thats all life ever is.

I know many of these folks personally, and all of them found out the hard way that you can't act like an "NWA" if you want to get ahead in the white collar world. A female friend of mine was frustrated by this at first, but learned to adjust.

[Smogger]

That comment wasn't directed at you.

[darbymcgill]

That and people whining about reverse discrimination, which as find as annoying as baseless claims of discrimination.

Why not just say you find all claims of discrimation annoying.

[Graybeard58]

They may not even be conscious of it. My wife noted that whenever I "go home" to the South and start talking with old friends, that I immediately "revert" to "Southern-speak".

I catch myself doing that too, then I just tell myself, "well, I must be bilingual"

[bluetone006]

"I worked for a black woman at a Fortune 500 company. She was a manager, but I guarantee she will never go any higher because of her tendency to go "ghetto" when she was talking with other black women. I'd come up to her with a question, and she would be very businesslike and professional. If she was speaking to another black woman, though, she would immediately go into ghetto-speak. In fairness, though, I've seen the same thing happen with white males who have thick southern accents. They'd be very professional, but when they spoke to certain people they'd suddenly go completely redneck. I'm sure it was every bit as career-stopping as my former manager's behavior." Exactly - this isn't a race issue it's a class issue.

[BadAndy]

"I'm dying to know what "acting white" is..."

It means being educated and competant.

[Mack the knife]

"In a survey of more than 1,600 minority professionals, Dr. Hewlett and Princeton professor Cornel West found that sterling credentials can be overshadowed by personal and cultural traits. Everything from cornrows, ethnic jewelry, animated hand gestures, and certain manicures can leave colleagues thinking, "You're different." "

---

Lemme see if I understand this.

Minorities come to work with baggy low-riding pants, corn rows, T-shirts that say "Kill the Honkeys", and/or jewelry that make them stand out as different ... and then complain that people view them as different and don't take them seriously. Duhh!

Women come to work wearing short skirts, low cut blouses, lots of perfume ... and then complain that men keep hitting on them and don't take them seriously. Duhh!

And I as a consumer, before I buy that loaf of bread, or jar of peanut butter, or that can of beans, or bicycle, or automobile, or ... I always look up the company to find out if its executives have people of my ethnicity in its corporate management or board of directors. Yeah, right. This is just race pimp rhetoric.

Many years ago, I bought went to a grocery store and a young black male in a suit bagged my groceries. I asked him why he was wearing a suit ... and he said that his mother had emphasized that he needed to look professional at all times. He was well spoken, and sounded intelligent. I found out he was an engineering student, with good grades, working as a bagger to help pay his way through college. As far as I was concerned, white or black or brown, he had qualities that I thought would be valuable wherever he went. So ...

The next day, I brought him an application to go to work at the Aerospace company where I worked. I pointed out that if he was hired, they would pay for his tuition in engineering, he would gain experience in engineering (which would help his academic work), and he might even get a pay raise. And it appeared that my company would gain a valuable employee.

Long story short -- he submitted the application for an engineering aid job, was hired, graduated as an Engineer, and began a success-filled engineering career at the company.

Was he "acting white"??

Was it racist of me to select him for my attention? Because I admit that if that same person had bagged my groceries wearing baggy pants, jewelry, sporting corn-rows, and speaking ebonics ... I don't think I would have recognized his potential and wouldn't have made the effort to help him (and my company).

Each person selects his clothing and demeaner to project a specific set of qualities to the outside world. One should not then complain if they are judged based on those qualities.

[catmanblack.]

racism is a word used by some to try and take advantage of other people-those that pretend not to be racist are in state of confusion-charles rangel is the perfect example-if i don't want to do certain things does it make me evil-hell no-it makes the person or group trying to force me to do what they want arrogant-if GOD had of intended us to be the same he would have made us that way-don't never let groups such as churches, clubs, gov'ts tell you what you must do not to be racist-because if they do they are the racist not you-communisn in the form of democracy is evil

[Xenalyte]

See, now, that's what I want to do . . . the question is where the market exists for someone with my skill set to be used as a consultant.

[Xenalyte]

Believe it or not, when not before cameras Bush speaks much more sharply and with almost no discernible regional accent.

[longtermmemmory]

Total manure.

When you have "educated" lawyers who still use slang and mispronunciations like "aks" for ask or pronouce the "t" in often like an illiterate, of course those will be picked up.

It has nothing to do with skin color, it has everything to do with proper english.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Everything from cornrows, ethnic jewelry, animated hand gestures, and certain manicures can leave colleagues thinking, "You're different."

I don't think you'll see many white professionals rising to high positions while sporting complicated hairdos (whether cornrows or mounds of artificial curls), large/loud jewelry (whether of a "minority ethnic" style or the stuff WASPy and Jewish grandmothers are notorious for), or "certain manicures" that obviously interfere with the use of the hands and advertise that the wearer is very determined that people focus attention on her fingernails. And "animated had gestures" are for people who have trouble expressing themselves orally -- also a career-killer for for anyone of any racial or economic background.

[Xenalyte]

I would SO buy a t-shirt that said "Kill the Honkeys."

[surely_you_jest]

Gee, where to start?

This has far more to do with socioeconomic class than it has to do with ethnic group.

What is apparently invisible to the ethnic minorities quoted herein and, seemingly, the authoress, is that the very same thing happens to working class and middle class whites in upper crust law firms, corporations, and brokerages. And it has always been that way.

There are all sorts of little cultural cues that people give off which, if one is not a member of the particular "inside" class or caste are all but invisible, but if one is, are all but impossible to miss. These are not taught, but they are learned. They have to do with clothing choices, eyeglass frames, jewelry (more accurately, the lack of jewelry), verbal syntax, accent, conversational topics, interests, body language, and on and on and on. It is another form of education, and it begins very shortly after birth.

That lack is what the authoress, and her subjects, are missing but do not realize that they are missing. And at this point in their lives they are highly unlikely to be able to learn enough to be able to "pass", even in the allegedly classless American society. This, too, has always been this way. There may be tutors who are able to convey and teach theses cultural cues available - think about the character of Professor Higgins in "My Fair Lady" and you get close to the mark - but I doubt that there are very many.

[wardaddy]

where's the projectile vomit alert?