I came across this headline this morning and think it’s worth a comment. “NAACP Considers Condemning Tea Party for 'Racism.'”
It seems to me it’s been a very long time now that these kinds of accusations crop up and, I believe, fairly often have no merit at all. Yet, the words are seen by countless numbers who never read beyond the headline, nor search out the facts. And that, I guess, is why organizations work so hard to have a specific sound-bite or statement in huge font type reach the media outlets.
So, in effect, what we really have are news or issue related “catch 22’s,” where words or statements are either taken out of context or highlighted to prove a completely different point.
If, for example, when groups such as the Tea Party take stands against voter fraud and cite particular venues where it occurs, if those venues happen to have large minority populations, activist groups don’t address the real problem of actual fraud. Instead, they turn the issue around and say that the party is against permitting minorities to vote in those particular places, thereby turning an unbiased truth about something else into a racially-charged statement.
So, how do you these kinds of issues get addressed, or serious situations brought to light if they can’t be mentioned without the source being accused of having an ulterior, hostile agenda? The answer is, you probably can’t because the general media won’t let you get your real point across. And what that leads to is incredible, mind-bending frustration, racial tension and real issues painted over because they’re not permitted to come to light.
And that reminds me of a situation I was in while still in my late teens. I was running a factory's shipping department. All boiled down, that basically required that cartons of manufactured items be stacked for storage and eventual shipment, and that outbound freight was picked from stock, addressed and loaded on to outbound trucks.
Summers were our busiest times, because most retailers, such as F.W. Woolworth, W. T. Grant and the like, down to the smallest outlets, did their stocking for the holidays then. Ordinarily during that season I’d have six or seven folks in my department, almost all of them of one minority or another such as black, Puerto Rican and Cuban. It really didn’t matter to us though, because we worked side by side together over very long days, and as a result, some times even beyond the workplace, became friends.
Now, I was in fact the ”manager,” and every employee knew it, but when it came to something like loading a truck when everyone else was working double speed at something else, I didn’t stop to think “I’m the boss here,” I handled the freight myself. In fact, we all worked that way, bailing each other out whenever needed and at the end of the week, we all received compensation for jobs that were well done. And, we were all proud in our own ways of that accomplishment.
Then one day a newcomer joined our department, during our busiest time of the season. Now, we weren’t doing rocket-science, but there were tasks to be learned along with procedures. And, during the learning-curve, questions or requests for information were available from myself, as well as any other experienced employee. Thus, ordinarily, together we brought new folks up to speed rather quickly.
Somewhere during the first few days of this newcomer’s arrival, I noticed he worked at a slower pace than the rest of us. But I wrote that off to unfamiliarity, nervousness and fear of making errors. And yet it seemed in time his activity level never seemed to increase. So I spoke to him about it, receiving assurances he knew he had to do better and would certainly try. But, that never happened.
Mentioning later what now seemed like outright dawdling again, I told the newcomer that if he didn’t put some effort into his work, I’d be calling personnel, seeking his replacement. And that’s when he smiled, and said something like, ‘Oh no. You can’t do that. You’ve got to keep me on this job.”
When I asked him why I couldn’t seek replacement for a slacker, he told me that he was an American Indian, and even back then, had job rights protecting against termination, even for cause.
Not really knowing what to do, I simply reacted. I pushed him to the loading dock door and threw him off the raised shipping platform. After dusting himself off, he said, “You can’t do that to me!” I replied, “I just did. And , if you try to get back in here, I’ll throw you off again.” In fact, he did try, but soon tired of it because he found out I wasn’t kidding. I didn’t want him in my department. And, not because of his heritage, that didn’t matter to me at all. I had a job that needed doing, and it called for someone willing to work.
Now, I doubt that my solution would get very far today because of what the workplace’s become in general, giving slackers places to hide under protection of the law. But what if we all got together just once, any workday would be fine, and simply throw all the bums out together. Surely, they’d have all kinds of complaints, issues, condemnations and lawsuits –but, we’d be left with a working environment that was actually productive. And, if that’s the case, the condemnation and a few days in court would certainly be worth it.
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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