"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.
"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."
IMO, this bears repeating, over and over.