I work in a customer service role with predominantly black co-workers. I am the only Caucasian person on my team of 15 people or so. We have a team chat we use to collaborate and just in the last few weeks, my eyes have been opened by what some of my co-workers have shared.
One co-worker in particular has probably been the victim of 4-5 racial attacks in the last month or so. She's repeatedly been called a "nigger", been requested to have a non-black person help her, and others. I've tried escalating the issue to get these customers reported, but nothing really ever gets done. Another of my co-workers had a customer call in two days ago, to be told "I'm glad they shot that nigger in Wisconsin." A third co-worker of mine, a very kind Christian lady, had a lady call in yesterday. In the background, her husband said, "That sounds like a black lady." He then started chanting "Black lives don't matter!" repeatedly.
With my nondescript Midwest accent, nobody thinks that I'm black, so knowing I'm most likely white, I do have a few people who feel comfortable casually making racial comments to me. Here's the thing - I've been working here awhile and this hasn't become an issue until the last few weeks.
My mind has been changed from thinking that as a society, we have largely moved past racism. This has been more than an isolated incident; this is an everyday thing and it's genuinely hurting my co-workers. Another eye-opener was shared last week by the Christian sociologist George Yancey, a black man. He shared a screenshot from the former PCA theologian Anthony Bradley, who was the target of an online troll who for years shared "discernment" posts about that "nigger" who he claimed was biblically unfit to lead the denomination. This man was citing scripture but quoting cartoonish racial stereotypes. I have no idea how serious he was. Either way, the PCA denomination did nothing but eventually ask him to make a post where he made clear that the PCA was not racist. Bradley refused, and was eventually pushed out of evangelical circles. He is now an unapologetic liberal theologian.
Yancey's point was that Bradley readily admitted that the denomination not caring was what radicalized him, and Yancey admitted that seeing similar behavior tempts him to become radicalized as well. I nearly cried when I heard that the PCA denomination simply did not care about this.
I now know that we have been too quick to dismiss the idea that racism is a relic of all but a few people, and I hear the hurt from people I know every day. What alternatives do we have other than, say, joining BLM? The idea that there is nothing concrete we can or should do no longer seems plausible to me.
One co-worker in particular has probably been the victim of 4-5 racial attacks in the last month or so. She's repeatedly been called a "nigger", been requested to have a non-black person help her, and others. I've tried escalating the issue to get these customers reported, but nothing really ever gets done. Another of my co-workers had a customer call in two days ago, to be told "I'm glad they shot that nigger in Wisconsin." A third co-worker of mine, a very kind Christian lady, had a lady call in yesterday. In the background, her husband said, "That sounds like a black lady." He then started chanting "Black lives don't matter!" repeatedly.
With my nondescript Midwest accent, nobody thinks that I'm black, so knowing I'm most likely white, I do have a few people who feel comfortable casually making racial comments to me. Here's the thing - I've been working here awhile and this hasn't become an issue until the last few weeks.
My mind has been changed from thinking that as a society, we have largely moved past racism. This has been more than an isolated incident; this is an everyday thing and it's genuinely hurting my co-workers. Another eye-opener was shared last week by the Christian sociologist George Yancey, a black man. He shared a screenshot from the former PCA theologian Anthony Bradley, who was the target of an online troll who for years shared "discernment" posts about that "nigger" who he claimed was biblically unfit to lead the denomination. This man was citing scripture but quoting cartoonish racial stereotypes. I have no idea how serious he was. Either way, the PCA denomination did nothing but eventually ask him to make a post where he made clear that the PCA was not racist. Bradley refused, and was eventually pushed out of evangelical circles. He is now an unapologetic liberal theologian.
Yancey's point was that Bradley readily admitted that the denomination not caring was what radicalized him, and Yancey admitted that seeing similar behavior tempts him to become radicalized as well. I nearly cried when I heard that the PCA denomination simply did not care about this.
I now know that we have been too quick to dismiss the idea that racism is a relic of all but a few people, and I hear the hurt from people I know every day. What alternatives do we have other than, say, joining BLM? The idea that there is nothing concrete we can or should do no longer seems plausible to me.
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