PamelaKennedy
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@Lindsay Mastrogiovanni That automatically discriminates against anyone who's fresh out of college or grad school.
@JennMJack @CocoaFly I can beat that one: I got told (in Canada) that the reason I get treated like Black even though I'm Choctaw Indian is that "Indians are white, so you're Black."
@uninterracial No, majoring in Bio and Chem alone makes you a "nerd" to the Black community - if and only if that's whose opinion you care about. Anyone who goes against the grain and majors in math or a science is obviously beyond caring what the Black community thinks, though. If you've had no problem getting work in those fields, though, you're way better off than me. All I find is that there seem no jobs available, even back in the 90s when I graduated. I've been lucky if I've been able to find call center jobs where no customer or client can see me and react with racism (not wanting to deal with me or listen to me because I "look Black".) -- only because no one can tell I'm not white over the phone.
@Brice Cameron In the 5th-grade class I got to teach lately, in the math portion, I found that the girls were getting all the answers right and the boys were messing up - and being loud and vociferous about it along the way. At what point in life does that change? By adulthood it's assumed that if you're female (and God forbid black or "looks Black" Native American) you must be too stupid to do math or be good at math - but back in elementary school and early middle school the girls were BETTER at math than the boys?!?! What happens, here?!
How can you "get over it" when THEY are the ones making the hiring decisions?! The proverbial "door slammed in my face" isn't slammed by people who do think that skin color doesn't dictate intelligence or presumed lack thereof. People who think "brown skin = too stupid for Math" are always the ones making the hiring decisions!!
@JennMJackYes I've noticed that the only way I can get other MATHEMATICIANS and Science majors to treat me anywhere near as their "equal" is to be dealing with ONLY European-born or raised ones. My current boyfriend likes me BECAUSE we have Math in common - but he's not New York "raised" he's Israel-raised where people probably don't have these convoluted ideas that brown skin must equal lack of mathematical or scientific ability = hence, more melanin in the skin = not enough brain cells to comprehend math or science, let alone major in them and get the state of New York or Massachusetts to give one a license to TEACH them to high schoolers. And for that, I "put up" with his being bi-sexual and for some reason being unable to detect covert racism in his choice of boyfriends, but I digress. My point was I only find acceptance from Jewish men as a whole, (not necessarily EVERY Jewish man I've ever met, mind you) and some Italians, but then only if they're from "over there" and not raised with the American racist mindset. The automatic assumption that I couldn't possibly have a brain just because my skin is brown, seems to be an American and Canadian thing (possibly Australian, too, as I've met some New Zealanders in London who WEREN'T like that).
As Native American with a science degree and Math teaching credential all I find is doors slammed in my face when people SEE me. Where the hell are these "opportunities" for minority women with "white" degrees and majors? I mean WHERE? I'll pack my car and drive onto a SHIP to get there if I have to!! And don't tell me either the East Coast or the West Coast, either; I've spent most of my 41 misspent years trying all THOSE states. I get everything from disbelief, treated like I'm lying, or the door slammed in my face everywhere I go trying to get a Math job!! And God forbid I try to actually be an entry-level Biotech lab technician; that field seems even MORE racist.
The biggest problem is that sizes like 34GG or even the next possibility up, 36G, are hella hard to find out in the boondocks; even the 10-hour drive to Denver for a decent selection of stores including Nordstrom Rack, would cost too much. When I tried getting a Maths teaching job in the UK I did find that London shops had my size, and that's where I first encountered, firstly, the need for underwires and the "G" cup size range, and cheap/reasonably priced ones the right size in the Charity Shops. I'm a substitute teacher and so bra prices over $20 are out of the question. Now, of course, the haul up to Denver or Colorado Springs is also pricey -- !! I so get why women are willing to pay for liposuction to reduce the physical problems associated with being top-heavy but otherwise PETITE (5'1" and the aforementioned 34 inches around the ribcage).
As for what kind of men I like -- I don't. That's a horse of a different color. I settle for one who's Bi- and likes other guys too. They have to like me for my BRAINS and the fact that I'm a Math teacher and went to Yale and also law school or I've gotten to the point in my life where I'm almost able to drop them with a deer rifle at first sight. That's how insulting and repulsive and gross men get with me the minute they see me.
I have to lobby Nordstrom Rack to put a store in Albuquerque and then the problem would be, not "solved," but a little bit closer to it. Until then, mail-order it is. JCPenney catalog has the Flower Bali underwire in their own brand, which sometimes goes on sale down to a price I can almost afford, so that's OK -- fortunately I like the "I Love Lucy" look.
It is, and even better still if you can either do all the repairs yourself or somehow avoid getting ripped off on basic repairs.
Try that living as an on-call day-to-day substitute teacher in multiple school districts spread out all over Northern California and see how well that works for you........some of which are in places even Amtrak doesn't go.
Me too. The only residual expense is getting ripped off by mechanics on repairs, parts that cost $14.95 and should be no more than $50 or so worth of labor to put in wound up costing me over $700 which I can't get back with anything less than an outright lawsuit, in all likelihood. Other than that, the car is paid for in full, and the insurance was cheap because I dropped everything not required by state law.
What the hell "race card" is it when you grew up suburban, college prep, educated, middle-class, went to Yale, or Johns Hopkins or Princeton, and your dealings with the job market ever since you graduated college have been: on paper they like you, they eagerly call you for a telephone interview, invite you to come in person, and when you get there they either hem, haw, and find some reason not to hire you or outright slam the door in your face. What "race card" is that, pray tell?! Employers are interested in hiring you until they SEE you, what "race card" is that?! And trust me, no one who graduates from an Ivy or any college for that matter, goes to an interview DRESSED wrong in any way, shape or form. I can dress in the Yale-blue and white pinstripe suit with the bun in my hair, the whole 9 yards, and still get the "thanks for stopping by" treatment when they see me.
It's mostly low-end "survival" jobs. There aren't a lot of people there either, around one million total in the whole state. They have pretty generous welfare, for unwed mothers and the disabled anyway; high levels of illegals ON welfare, and people don't complain about unemployment because they're not really trying very hard. At least that's what I was told in Albuquerque when I was passing through on my way to apply to teach in Las Cruces.
So come out here to California - every place here hires white and white-looking Hispanic before any darker-skinned race on the planet.
Try reading the posts on Facebook of all the people who say they think they're going to Yale next year.......and I haven't looked at Princeton's Facebook page for comparison. People are a little bit more literate on the Johns Hopkins page, but still.......!!
When I went to London for a math teaching job (which I did not GET once they saw the color of my skin - they decided I was "not qualified" after all even though I'd been qualified on paper and in the telephone interview) the hostel I stayed in, had plenty of Spaniards in it, and some of my roommates mentioned their hesitation to come to the US because they feared they would be mistaken for and treated badly like "Mexicans." Although they said "South" Americans, as if they don't know their geography......
Well then I won't be sending off for a Maryland teaching credential with my degree, since it would only be of any use in that state.
Come to California. NO job wants a degree. They very specifically state that they would prefer the relevant, recent, verifiable work experience. Scientific laboratory technician jobs stating that they'd rather have lab work experience than a college degree in the sciences. Honestly. I'm looking for a state where my Yale degree CAN get me at least the damn ENTRY-LEVEL job!!!
It's because a lot of "families" aren't two-parent families anymore. Women just go ahead and have babies not only out of wedlock but without the father around at all, so there isn't a second source of a second income to be had in the first place. We would as a society have to go back to thinking that childbearing and rearing belongs IN MARRIAGE or in a committed relationship - and that's going against the grain of current "morality" so that's not going to happen.
This argument will wash when once again there are enough jobs to go around.