{"id":6932,"date":"2013-02-20T18:48:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T23:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/?p=6932"},"modified":"2013-02-21T09:20:47","modified_gmt":"2013-02-21T14:20:47","slug":"white-history-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/6932","title":{"rendered":"White History Class"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m seeing this other hashtag flying across my Twitter feed… #whitehistoryclasses…and it puts me in mind of a story I’ve been meaning to tell for a long time in this space. \u00a0 Charitably, when some of us white folk assert there is no systematic racism in this country because all the No Coloreds<\/em><\/strong> signs have been taken down, we are being merely clueless. \u00a0 There is more to it than that. \u00a0 I know from personal experience, and I strongly suspect most of us white folk know it too…or would if we wanted to. \u00a0 Gather round the campfire boys and girls, and I’ll relate a little White History for you. \u00a0 A piece of mine anyway.<\/p>\n

It was the late 1970s, and I was in my twenties and desperate for work. \u00a0 But I had a reliable car, a little Ford Pinto sedan that was bought and paid for…bought with so few options (it literally didn’t even have a cigarette lighter, although the wiring for one was there in the dashboard) it was easy to work on myself, and \u00c3\u00bcber reliable. \u00a0 And I loved to drive it. \u00a0 So one avenue I kept looking at in the Help Wanteds were all the ads for couriers. \u00a0 If I could combine my love of driving with a job that required me to drive places would be ideal…or so I thought.<\/p>\n

Problem was, all those ads listed detailed knowledge of the roads in downtown Washington D.C. as a requirement, and not only did I not know downtown all that well, I absolutely hated driving there. \u00a0 Traffic was a horrible and parking was a nightmare all day long. \u00a0 So I kept looking hopefully for a listing from a service that needed someone to work the suburbs instead. \u00a0 And lo and behold, one day I saw one. \u00a0 Must know Montgomery County Roads<\/em>…said the ad. \u00a0 Well…I was their man!<\/p>\n

So I darted out to the address on the ad, supremely confidant that I would ace whatever test they threw at me. \u00a0 Hello…says I. \u00a0 I’m your man. \u00a0 I’ve lived here practically my entire life. \u00a0 I know Montgomery County roads like I laid the asphalt myself. \u00a0 Well…says the owner of the courier service, an elderly man who from the look of him could have retired decades ago…we need to test that for ourselves. \u00a0 And they put me in a small room and gave me a sheet of questions. \u00a0 Describe how, exactly, you would you get from point A to point B. \u00a0 This is going to be a piece of cake thinks I as I sat down.<\/p>\n

But the first question asked about a route in downtown Washington D.C. \u00a0 And…I couldn’t answer it. \u00a0 So I skipped to the next question on the test which was…another question about directions in downtown Washington D.C.. \u00a0 And so was the next. \u00a0 And the next. \u00a0 They were all questions about downtown Washington D.C..<\/p>\n

So I took the test back to the owner and told him I was sorry, but I could not answer any of it. \u00a0 No worry, says he. \u00a0 We’ll put a radio in your car, you will get your jobs from the dispatcher and if you get lost you can call for directions. \u00a0 I needed the work, so I said well…okay…I can do that. \u00a0 But…why did you write your ad as through you were looking for people to work in Montgomery County?<\/p>\n

And I swear to god he patted my knee like he was my grandfather and said, “Oh, we wrote it that way so we won’t get any of them colored boys out here looking for work.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Well…god forbid us white kids from the suburbs would have to compete with them colored boys from the city who probably know their streets like the backs of their hands.<\/p>\n

So I hemmed and hawed and said I really didn’t want to drive in the city…but if you ever need someone to work out in the county give me a call…<\/em>and I darted out of there. \u00a0 I felt dirty in a way I hadn’t since I stood in a line of about twenty or so other guys and bent over and spread them for my pre-induction physical. \u00a0 Later I sent in an anonymous letter to the county telling them about the ad and the service…but I didn’t actually call the man a racist to his face and walk out on him either. \u00a0 I just didn’t have that kind of nerve back then.<\/p>\n

No, I don’t know what it’s like to be a black guy in America. \u00a0 But I know what it’s like to be a white guy. \u00a0 And I know exactly<\/em> how much was stacked in my favor. \u00a0 Every one of us does. \u00a0 Or could, if we really wanted to face facts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m seeing this other hashtag flying across my Twitter feed… #whitehistoryclasses…and it puts me in mind of a story I’ve been meaning to tell for a long time in this space. \u00a0 Charitably, when some of us white folk assert there is no systematic racism in this country because all the No Coloreds signs have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[162,78],"class_list":["post-6932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","category-politics","tag-racism","tag-the-struggle-for-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brucegarrett.com\/brucelog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}