Okay guys, here it goes. I'm just going to wing it, okay?
Intro
I work nights as a gov't contractor.
I am white (German, British, Irish, Scottish, etc...)
I am NOT a racist.
I am the only white guy on 3rd shift. ...see where I'm going with this?
I don't care who or what ethnic background a person is.
I can "get down and get funky" when I want to.
I get along with everyone.
I am a republican.
I voted for McCain.
The story goes:
Last night at work, we were all talking about Obama and the inauguration. I ended up getting so uncomfortable being so outnumbered (you know what I mean) that it was very difficult to discuss the inauguration. Obama is the complete polar opposite of everything I stand for. But yet, I can't say that. I had to very carefully choose my words. I felt like every single pair of eyes was on me every time I spoke.
Co-worker: "Come on Butch, you and me are cool. What's that song about"pretty fly for a white guy"? Honestly... don't you think it's time for a black president?"
Butch: "Yeah, I guess. But truthfully, Obama is not black. Obama will be the first multi-racial president."
{All co-workers stop working. The clock stops ticking. The world stops spinning. Every single pair of eyes is on me. I feel myself starting to sweat.}
Butch: "What I mean is -and you can look it up- Obama is 50% white, 40-something% Arab and I think only 6 or 7% black. Yes, he's the first african-american president, but he's not 100% black. I mean, look at me, if I had a touch of iroquois indian in me, I could say I was part native american, right?"
Another co-worker: "Doesn't matter. Obama has black in him, so he's black. Even if YOU had just a droplet of black in you, you could be black."
Butch: "Uh....."
{I realize I better just shut up and not say a word. But instead I use humor to get out of the uncomfortable situation.}
Butch: "I could be black? Okay... (starts drumming with pens and singing "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind & Fire) When you wish upon a star / Dreams will take you very far, yeah / When you wish upon a dream / Life ain't always what it seems oh yeah...
Black co-workers: {Laughing}.
Other co-worker: "Don't you think Obama will make a great president?"
Butch: "I hope so. I wish him luck though. But I'll be honest, I didn't vote for him. (a co-worker off in the distance is overheard saying "...figures") My biggest fear is that some nut-job will try to take out Obama and we will end up with race riots worse than the 60's."
Other co-worker: "Yeah, like one of your redneck buddies named Bubba".
Butch: (very annoyed but keeping cool) "No. It could be anybody. Look, Obama has a huge job ahead of him. I just hope he can bring the country around."
{Everyone realizes that there are differences, and somehow, we end up putting politics aside and get back to work}.
Question: How would you have handled the situation? Please refrain from racist comments and nastiness or whatever. I don't want to see anyone banned or this thread get locked down. Thanks....
sounds like you know how the one Black guy at the place full of whites feels like?????
If your not comfortable/confident with what your saying or surrounding's you will get ate alive...because your the outkast this time...not them...i immagine they have to hold there tounge all the time around whites...what i dont get is if you all work together how come you guys arent comfortable saying what youwant.
know what i mean.
they arent going to respect you more for holding back .
I would have said " My politics are my business and to each his own" I would however never find myself in that position. Other than the Military, I worked for myself my whole working life. I don't like time clocks and I don't like boss's.
I know, I know... One co-worker and I get along great. We can actually laugh and joke about "stuff" - you know what I mean?
I showed him pictures of my deer hunting cabin and discussed hunting with him. We started laughing about it too. I told him he'd look good in camo. He joked that he couldn't climb a treestand, because where he comes from "a black person in a tree is referred to as lynching!"
ONE co-worker is awesome and doesn't care one way or the other. We get along wonderfully with mutual respect.
The others are 90%female and aren't always the most approachable to talk about all sorts of things...
i know.
i got a good friend i call Honkeey, cracker, gringo, Whitey,Hill-Jack.....whatever i feel like(hes black)...
he calls me (im white)Spear Chucker mostely....but some days its Tar-Baby, Jungle Bunny, Darky,
i tought him "Moon Cricket" sometimes its that. he never heard that one...he laughed his butt off the first time i said it.
Seriously, drink with these people. If you're cool, you can make some good friends and learn a lot about the world in the course of an evening anda case of beer. Take it in stride if someone offers you a joint. I doubt anyone's going to be offended if you refrain, provided you don't causea scene over it.
When you break stereotypes in the process of getting to know people, it can lead to some very interesting things.
I think those situations are always hard. Over all I think you handled it quite nicely. I think I would have said that I don't care what race our president is and I would vote for whoever the best canidate is no matter race, I just have different political views than Obama.
I try to stay away from color lines but you can't always do that. You said it yourself you are not racist. A little self inflection never hurts I say be yourself either people will like you or they won't but if you respect them most will be respectful in turn. Things like love, respect, admiration, they see no color line. However hate, greed, and pride will use color as a weopon.
Seriously, drink with these people. If you're cool, you can make some good friends and learn a lot about the world in the course of an evening anda case of beer. Take it in stride if someone offers you a joint. I doubt anyone's going to be offended if you refrain, provided you don't causea scene over it.
When you break stereotypes in the process of getting to know people, it can lead to some very interesting things.
Aught... I did that a few months ago when we got off work. About 4 of us went out for breakfast at an IHOP. It didn't bother me in the least. But, I will admit, I did notice a few stares from some older senior citizens, because I was the only white guy at sitting in the booth. BIG DEAL!!!
They sent us a new guy Im supposed to train at work a couple months ago, he is black.At first things were gioing ok then he started making little comments, ask him to do something he will say things like "Sure, make the brother sweep the floor" or "Its cuz Im black isnt it".He sounds like hes joking but theres a definite tone to it that gets very annoying after awhile.
Another of the new guys turned out to be a real idiot, he was white and staying at the same hotel as the black guy.He was very incompetent at his job after 3 months of training so I got my supervisor to get him sent back to the main office to deal with him in Canada.He thought it would be fun to build on this and start some trouble before he left so he started telling the black employee I didnt like him and eventually told him it was because he was black.
The black guy is a lot like me he speaks his mind and means what he says most of the time so one morning we had the following conversation
"Jaime says you dont like me much"
Me "Oh yeah"
"Yeah, he says its cuz Im black"
Me trying not to laugh "Oh really"
"Thats what he told me, any truth to it"
Me finally able to control laughter and speaking seriously.
"You know, this company sends me the biggest idiots we have on the payroll, I have to train them to do a job and most of them are really bad at it."
"Whats that got to do with me"
Me dead serious now "I get so many guys through here I cant remember thier names, your another face to me right now, its not that I dont like black people, right now I dont like people in general, so dont take it personally, untill you can do your job and do it right we arent gonna be friends, we arent gonna hang out, and I sure as hell am not going out of my way not to offend you about your job perfrmance because its gonna turn racial, you have a problem call the office and they will deal with it"
new guy" Ok, thats cool, sorry, at least let me buy you lunch"
Random thoughts about .....everything
