Thursday, July 24, 2008

Threatened For Asking For A Job and A Half Million Coffins In The Middle Of Georgia


Early Afternoon Edit: I moved the housing update as an addendum to yesterday's post.

I froth at the mouth in rage that young guys in other ethnic groups aren't required to have high school diplomas or even speak good English. Unlike many young black men, they get hired for gigs that my 19 year old can do and has plenty of muscle to do it.


Yeah, that's him. He takes these for his girlfriend, and I can testify he's a great at heavy lifting except for picking up his dishes and clothes. Otherwise, construction work, stock work, house painting, landscaping, etc., would be a breeze for him.

He still can't find a minimum wage job. This isn't unusual if you're a young black male without a high school diploma. About half of them don't, but neither do over a third or more of urban white guys. Saying 'go back to school' dismissively is easy, but he has a mean case of ADHD.

In my area, most of the Latinos have the laborer jobs sewed up tight. I don't begrudge their success, but a lot of them speak little English and don't have high school degrees.

Things are so bad for the brothas that on Monday, my son was threatened with arrest for asking for a damn job.

When Xavier left home late that morning to look for work, he wore a button down black shirt with a collar and black slacks. The collar is good because it partially hides the Chinese lettering tattoo on his neck. I warned him not to get a highly-visible tats long ago, but when he turned 18 nearly two years ago, he was hard-headed and said that 'everyone' has them.

It was professionally done and actually looks good if you have an open mind about tattoos, but on the neck of a black male, folks instantly think gangs, whereas on a white male they might give him the benefit of the doubt and think he's 'artsy' or a musician. We've got plenty of all races running around in Maryland with lots of tats, and it doesn't seem to affect them in getting those blue collar, worker drone, and slave wage jobs.

So anyway, Xavier walked into a 7/11 after seeing a Help Wanted sign. He was dressed up nicely that day too.

"Ma, all I did was ask about getting a job. The mofo at the counter said they didn't have any. I said why did they have the sign up? He didn't say shit and just stared at me, so then I asked to speak to the manager. The guy said I'd better leave, and put his finger on the button for the police."

"You're shittin' me," I said.

"Hell no," he replied. "I was so god damned mad. I said, 'What? You think I'm here to steal? I'm just looking for a job! You got the sign in the window!' Then the man said, 'I'm warning you, I'll push the button!"

"Do it, asshole, so I can explain your fucking problem to the police, you racist asshole."

He said he grit on the bastard and left.

I was confused. I'd never seen a white person working there. I asked, "But who were the clerks? What race were they?"

"They were those two fucking Ethiopians or whatever the fuck African country they're from and think they're better than us!"

I knew exactly who he was talking about. They're passably congenial with me because I'm a middle aged black woman.

In their minds, however, they've bought into the myth that young black American males are the pit bulls of society and never to be trusted.


We can thank every form of the electronic and print medias for this. They sensationalize a handful of the worst stories, replaying them over and over again while downplaying or not playing the same shit that white folks do.

This breeds stereotypes and leads to the kind of attitude and racism that actually turns many black youths like my son into gang-banging pit bulls. People really are a lot like dogs in the sense that if you starve them or mistreat them, they'll get mean. This hidden and open contempt for black males that they are worthless and dangerous is so pervasive that it's become a social-fulfilling prophecy of gigantic proportions.

My son
shook his head in disgust and said, "Everyone hates us, Ma."

I feel for him, and sometimes wonder if I truly, truly know what it's like young black male.

I looked at my son who has been trying so hard each day to find work. He's starting to slide back into smoking weed some evenings with his friends. I wish he'd drink a beer or two instead, but alcohol makes him mean and he hates being drunk and hung-over. I will truly celebrate if marijuana is ever de-criminalized as it is in most of Canada and parts of the UK.

As Xavier stood there, I knew what he was thinking. The night before I mentioned how China feels about us. They're sponsoring the upcoming Olympics, and 'sorta' secretly decided to ban blacks and 'other social undesirables' from bars and restaurant because "they're all drug users and criminals."


So fuck the Olympics; they're only removing dog fried rice with peanut sauce off their menus so white US and UK canine-loving tourists won't freak out and refuse to eat in their establishments. Fake ass mah'fuckas.

The Chinese had a massive problem with addiction and crime at one time:

"The Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese War, was the most humiliating defeat China ever suffered in European history. It is perhaps the most sordid, base, and vicious event in European history, possibly, just possibly, overshadowed by the excesses of the Third Reich in the twentieth century.

By the 1830's, the English had become the major drug-trafficking criminal organization in the world; very few drug cartels of the twentieth century can even touch the England of the early nineteenth century in sheer size of criminality. Growing opium in India, the East India Company shipped tons of opium into Canton which it traded for Chinese manufactured goods and for tea. This trade had produced, quite literally, a country filled with drug addicts, as opium parlors proliferated all throughout China in the early part of the nineteenth century."

The racist Chinese persons who put out the order to ban black tourists or 'keep an eye on them' from many places don't consider their own history with white folks or current politics that led to the Middle East blood bath. Nor to my knowledge, has anyone high up in our government or the lowly bubble heads in our mainstream media complained about the ban.

So fuck the Africans like the ones at 7/11 who hate on us and Chinese haters too for acting like black Americans have a monopoly on crime when we've barely cornered the market.

~~~~~~~~~~


Still, all of this is a blip on the shit to wonder and worry about list when compared to this odd story about a half million coffins in the middle of Georgia.

They are described as low-cost, plastic, and air-tight sealed which is ideal for biowarfare victims or dead people infected with lethal communicable diseases, like bird flu, plague, or a new lethal pneumonia that hit military bases late last year as reported in this Washington Post article.

It's not lost on me either that around July 19th, the US put Iran on a two week time clock about their nuclear program, or that Russia and China has put billions of dollars in the past ten years in helping the Iranians in building their nuclear facility and won't like if we or the Israelis attack them.

I've written about this too, here. If you're really curious, you might want to start with my article, In WWIII Even The Birds Won't Win, then read Manifest Destiny.

Anyway, these 500,000 coffins are sitting in a field near military installations, the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and airport, waiting...



Google Map of the facility

I could write a summary of what I've read, but it's way too disturbing and the ramifications make me sick to my stomach. The story is newly discovered and Alex Jones wrote a little about it.

Since then, the most comprehensive information I've found is at a thread on this site: read the comments there. Some of the members appear well-informed and took the time to do the kind of journalistic investigation that you rarely see in mainstream news.

I added this chilling video of a FEMA 'camp'; there are reportedly many of them sprinkled in the US. I wonder if the two are tied together.



If you check out those links, I'd appreciate it if you returned here with feedback about this, or any of the other stuff I wrote about today. Thank you.


24 comments:

  1. I feel for your son. Some native Africans really do feel like they're better than us African Americans. It's crazy...we will never rise as a people, if we can't come together.

    That whole coffin thing is bit morbid. It makes my skin crawl. The whole thing just makes me angry...why can't out government just be up front with its citizens? UGH!

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  2. Mimi, I agree... it's outrageous, sad, creepy, and insane. Thanks for your comment.

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  3. Tell your son to keep pushing.

    Man, these folks want to break your spirit, once they break you and you starting committing crimes they can sit back and say "I told you these little young niggers weren't good for shit."

    Succeeding despite the odds forces them to confront their racism. They flip out when you do the unexpected.

    I hope he gets a gig. I'm shocked that he can't even find something at a fast food joint.

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  4. Thanks Big Man. He had a neat little job for a while making pizzas. We all loved that 'cause was able to bring home great food at the end of the workday. New management came in and laid off folks then brought in their own people.

    Yeah Torrance, so true. I checked out and liked your article too. Great post.

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  5. "Everyone hates us, Ma."

    That sentence broke my heart.


    The coffins? That is so strange. A little too strange to just be shrugged off. I don't know what to make of it, but it can't be anything good.

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  6. Some of the Ethiopians/Somalis in this area amaze me that they truly think they're 'above', the black people born and raised in this country. I see it everyday....There's a guy who works in the University parking deck at my job and everyday I see him as I'm checking out of work, every day I say a polite 'hello' to him...you'd think he would acknowledge me. Ain't happening.

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  7. La, re: "everyone hates us". It breaks my heart too. re: coffins. It does seem that something sinister is anticipated.

    Funky Black Chick, I have known and dated men from African countries and two Asians in my life. Most of them are cool. But damn, there's those who think they are better than us. I can almost understand that Chinese in China have bought into the racism, but it's damn unforgivable when some of the Africans living here reject us.

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  8. Hey there K.I.T.!

    What happened to your child is DEPLORABLE!

    I would not let it pass.

    You could direct your son to complain in writing to the national headquarters about what has occurred.

    Seriously.

    The reason I think it's important to do things like that is because we have to teach our black boys to take action when they are being discriminated against rather than just saying "they hate us"!

    These boys can go online and find the music they like and other things. Why can't they go online and look up this info?

    Joseph M. DePinto
    President
    7-Eleven
    1722 Routh St.
    Dallas, TX 75202
    Phone: 972-828-7011
    Fax: 972-828-7848


    At the bottom of his letter, he needs to include a
    "cc:_________________" with the name of the editor of the local paper

    This lets the corporation know that you will GO PUBLIC with an opinion piece to the local paper.

    Yes...GO THERE.

    If NOTHING is ever reported to corporate officials then the discrimination continues.

    Here's the EEOC Complaint page and he should use it every time this occurs:

    http://www.eeoc.gov/charge/overview_charge_filing.html

    We have to put an end to this mess!

    {raised fist}

    I hope I have said something that is helpful for this situation.

    ....and as for many of the Ethiopians...I will withhold comment...

    ... ditto for many of the Chinese and the racism exhibited towards blacks...

    Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
    Lisa

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  9. Thank you, Lisa! I actually thought of doing this but figured it would amount to a he-said she-said scenario and an expensive court fight that could drag on for years. Filing a complaint, however, is the least I should do. Maybe it will get him a job - working with the guys who dissed him. Now that would be payback.

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  10. Kit,
    Don't let X give up!! He's a smart kid with skills potential.
    Get training. There are all sorts of training programs for kids with minimum education. Skills is the key to survival. I've seen it over and over in my life. Those with skills survive.
    It takes hard work and persaverence to attain skills, but you gotta do it.
    I too am very ADD. The nice thing about vocational education is that it focuses on one thing. It doesn't require you to sit in a classroom and learn a bunch of stuff that people like me can be incapable of learning.
    Look into training programs. . . maintenance skills, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, whatever.
    Push push, push, fight and rage till you find something that's right. Don't give up the fight.

    Fuck the prejudiced MFs and the assholes. They are not the problem. They have to be ignored so that you don't make them the problem. Dwelling on them does nothing to get you where you want to go.

    I wish you and Xavier all the strength and determination it takes to make it all happen for him. He is a very lucky kid to have you.

    You probably know everything I've written above, but I just thought I'd share my experience.
    SH

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  11. Thank you, Sagacious. I'll read your comment to him, since you're ADHD too and did good for yourself. He likes hearing about and meeting men who have the same issues but somehow didn't end up as losers.

    That is his #1 fear, and ironically, the fear is trying and failing is so overwhelming that he periodically gives up and goes into a temporary slump. Sorta like life knockin' you down and you're a bit too dazed to jump back up immediately.

    We've all been through it to some degree but as I imagine you know, ADHD folks have a more of it. Thanks again.

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  12. Ms. Kit,

    If you and your family live in the DC metropolitan area part of MD (meaning, metro accesible), tell your son to go to iapws.com and apply for some jobs at Walter Reed in housekeeping. Does he at least have a GED?

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  13. Kit, Making it with ADD takes a really big dose of tenacity. You've got to scrape and claw your way through some things.
    The good news is that once we get ot a point where we can do something we are really interested in doing, we're generally very good at it. See, ADD people tend to be highly curious and very creative thinkers. If one can find a position that and a boss who cna exploit those traits we can do very well.
    I fought my ADD at a time when no one knew what it was. Nobody ever diagnosed me with ADD till I was in my 40s. Maybe that was an advantage in some ways.

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  14. It trips me out how these cats of other races/ethnicities walk around with elitist attitudes like they are so much better than blacks...bitch you're in MY country! I go to a PWI with a large Asian Indian population, and I tell you, some of them mofos have the worse attitudes. Half of them are darker than me and have the nerve to treat black folk like crap. It's like before they come here, they get the lecture that blacks in America ain't bout shit, ain't got shit and ain't worth shit, so treat them as such. But it's funny how the mofos take OVER the hood with their little convenience stores and wig shops and expect black business. I don't patronize the idiots. It's highly unfortunate that your son experienced this, but as long as foreigners (YEP) keep coming to the US with that "fear the blacks" mentality, that kind of thing will continue to happen to young blacks, men especially.

    And on the coffin issue. That shit is scary. The location is ironic, and quite frankly too close for comfort (I'm in AL). Our Gov. is truly on some other shit. Oh and China is too.

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  15. Oh snap you're from MD? I'm from P.G. County by Landover/Lanham area.

    And my parents are from Africa and I was born in D.C. but look like a regular "african american" and I know exactly what you're talking about... A lot of Africans do buy into the media image of black males but after a while they learn that they're still black as any other person in any white person's eye.
    ________________

    And you've probably heard of the detention facilities Halliburton and KBR got a contract to build -- in the US?

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  16. You all are great!

    Goldiilocks, thanks for the job lead. I had a ball checking out that site, and saw at least one entry he should qualify for.

    Sagacious, me too. As you know there was no 'ADHD' diagnosis back then, but when it first was shown on TV, my mother swore I had it as a kid. We are indeed a highly curious and creative bunch. Our eyes get glassy with boredom so easily until we find that passion that hooks us. You're right that's it was an advantage to not be stuck with a negative label while growing up.

    Xavier loves writing music, but from a job practicality standpoint, he also likes helping people in distress. He'd make a helluva rescue worker or fireman if he could get hooked into the study part of the training. Or pizzas. He makes a mean pizza. :)

    Shy, Yes, the attitude of man of them is infuriating! Do you know how when you walk down the street and someone else is walking toward you, and the two of you move a little to your side you can pass each other comfortably? There was this homeless looking one guy who refused to be courteous. He'd knock you over if you didn't move way over.

    I also briefly dated a guy from India in the late 80s. He told me that no Indian would ever marry a black person because in their country, the darkest Indians are at the bottom of their caste system. The history of this is fascinating. He said the ones who marry non-Indians go after white women so their children will appear to be in the Brahman (highest) caste.

    I met another, however, who was engaged to a black woman. I asked him about this and he said yes, that is their cultural baggage but he had let go of his and could care less.

    And yes, the coffins story actually gave me a nightmare last night. I did a little research and if true, it's chilling to the bone.

    Jay Midnyte, thanks for not being pissed about the anger expressed here about some Africans. We have some African-Americans just as prejudiced toward our own kind. A lot of our old-timers still think like this, but so do some of our folks. It amazes me when our own doesn't get it that they're still targets of racism.

    Yes, I read that too, re: the 'detention' camps, built by Halliburton, hooked up with FEMA, and the coffins in that mix and more.

    Here's a video of one: FEMA Camps. Those links in the article and links at those sites make you think you've learned more than you should know, but the stuff is easy to find on the net, from peak oil sites to paranoid white supremacy sites like Stormfront. It's everywhere except the mainstream media, but hey, they barely reported more than a sentence to the Bush pseudo-impeachment hearing this morning.

    This article, US Death Camps,
    combined with the video in the other link, gave me a nightmare. I truly hope all this is conspiracy theories, but if so, why the camps, trains, or in particular, the way they've been designed?

    If riots ever break out due to our country descending into total social chaos, I'm keeping my black ass at home and hope they don't knock on my door.

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  18. Hello K.I.T.,

    I hope that the complaint letter to the corporate headquarters as well as the complaint to EEOC will get a response.

    I will encourage you though, to have your son write the letter and then you can proof-read it. We have to teach our black boys to stop letting black women fight THEIR battles... if they are adult enough to do drugs...adult enough to have sex...they need to be adult enough to take responsibility and fight discrimination appropriately, even if that entails simply writing a letter.

    Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
    Lisa

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  19. LOL. Thanks for the advice, Lisa, but Xavier can barely fill out a job application.

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  20. White supremacy is a bad mu'fucka!

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  21. Hope we don't have reason for this to be our last thoughts before that final sleep.

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  22. I think that it is a difference in cultures. African-American men have the extended baggage of slavery, racial discrimination and lack of education. In an African country while there may still be effects of colonialism it is not a heavy yoke as the cross Xavier has to bear. What we have to deal with here is tribalism and politicians who teach people that it's not what you know but who you know to get a job. Education has always been highly valued and majority of us can get somewhere reasonable at least if your parents can pay fees or if you can manage to take out a loan. So in a way it's difficult to understand an education system skewed against African- Americans, with us you are sure you can always get good grades if you work hard enough with holiday tuition thrown into the mix and national examinations that are meant to be a level indicator of performance. True if you are rich you can go to elite schools and learn to cram or be spoon-fed as we call it but a child with less resources and a drive to learn has a big chance at making it especially with companies offering to pay for further ed like college and high school. Therefore the ones that get to make it in the States have no understanding of a young man like Xavier or the challenges he has to go through to actually make it. Here America is the l;and of milk and honey and understanding how someone does not have a chance or has difficulty is a non-existent idea in their minds. While often their own circumstances are worse back home the fact that the dollar is higher and they are making some progress i assume would make them act like that. Kinda like I can do better than you even though you were born here. We have the male figure present culture of hard work and often a hard upbringing that drives them even more and they just do not understand the giving up or the barriers both psychological and racial in the way for African Americans. My two cents, and I am really sorry for Xavier but he will get through it. If not he could travel somewhere in the motherland African Americans are top guest right now with Obama being president.

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  23. Thanks, Malaika. If I had money for travel, I'd go on a long visit to several English-speaking countries. And yes, I'll bet Kenya would really be fun since that's Obama's father's birthplace.

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Hi, this is Kit.

I haven't posted since summer 2010, and comment moderation has been on for a very long time.

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I can be reached at:
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