She strikes again

So on Friday I attended a colloquium on transitioning from being a doctoral student into the work world. I learned quite a few bits of information, the most important of which was where to search for jobs in higher education. I posed several questions relating to age and race but the one which seemed to hit home for my very racist professor of whom I spoke before (see first entry) was my inquiry about searching for jobs as a young person. Her response was "oh you should be searching the Chronicles of Higher Education and that other one that they have out there...what's it called? Oh yeah they used to call it the Black Chronicle but now I don't know the name but I'll forward it to you and you can find information on how to apply to HBCUs like Howard and such" Now there were two things to consider there. First, I hadn't ever mentioned, in my 3 years here, that I was remotely interested in applying to Black schools. In fact, had she ever listened to me, she would've known that I'm more interested in going on the international market than working at any U.S. school.

I mean, what does one say to something like that? This is reminiscent of so many unsavory things she's said to me over the past 3 years. Prior to this incident, I told her I had been volunteering at a golf tournament. I was giving some commentary on the nature of the tournament and how I found it deplorable that ANYONE would have time to play golf from 9am-5pm on a work day when their subordinates are busy slaving away at work to send their children to an affordable liberal arts school. My statement was made to point out the inequity in American society, where the rich exploits the poor and plays golf without reservation or concern for the little man. Her response? "Well it's kind of a great thing if you think about it. Years ago those guys who you saw playing today would've probably never been able to stand on the golf course except to work as caddies or to fetch water and balls for their bosses." I asked her to clarify and she said "well weren't there Black All-Stars playing?" I mentioned that the majority of individuals on my side of the course were white but there were some Black men playing. Now this struck me again as something strange...I hadn't mentioned a word about black men playing or anything related to black people and here she was, racializing the incident. Granted, the event is named after a Black baseball all-star but really, why must it be about race every time she opens her mouth? And it's always something ignorant!

Then there was the ignorant classmate yesterday who wanted to talk as an expert on reproduction theory in schools. She talked about minorities having similar experiences as working class children. So I couldn't resist the urge to ask for clarification on the difference between minorities and working class children. She had assumed that once she didn't use any other clarifying statement, that everyone assumed that those working class children to whom she referred were "naturally" WHITE. So she stumbled and gagged and all but threw up at my demands that she clarifies and defines what "minority" refers to in that context she was using. The professor intervened to "put us back on task"...You see, a discussion that puts a White woman on the spot for using prejudiced terms is not accepted in my program.

This all led me to think today about the possibility of Barack Obama being President and what it means to white people in the U.S. I've grown so weary of hearing white people qualify their "tolerance" by the fact that they're voting for Obama. I cannot tell you how many times white people have asked me what I think about Obama (as if their telling me that they're voting for him will make me see them as less inherently RACIST). I often say something egregious about Obama, just to watch their faces. So let's hypothetically say that Barack Obdama were hmm, Rashid Jackson with the same qualifications but raised by a Black grandmother in Harlem or Atlanta. Would White America be so gungho Democrat if Rashid were running against John McCain? I do wonder if it's really the politics of Obama that they like or it's the fact that he makes them comfortable that he's kind of black but kind of white and kind of "safe"? I don't know, these are just a few of the things that have been in my thoughts over the past few days.$.02