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pecuniumThis was sparked by desert_vixen, who points out she has a hard time writing about this, because she's got privilege. I have more privilege, I'm not only white, I'm male.
I have, however, experienced racism, though at a remove.
When I was a kid there was a drive for the United Way. I asked my mother for money. She said no. If I wanted to give the UW money, I could, but she wasn't going to contribute. I asked her why, and she told me they had a policy of supporting exactly matching the racial makeup of adoptees, to adoptors. At church (a progressive Vatican II type of place) we had a couple of bi-racial twins; and the thought that their parents (white) couldn't adopt them made my blood run cold.
That was my first stand on the subject (I was the only one who didn't contribute. I was the only one who didn't contribute for a long time, until they changed that policy).
Later, my second stepfather was black. We got robbed (lived in a less than afluent chunk of town). The cops were very attentive to me (all of 14) until he came to the door. At which point I could see them shut down. A couple of, obviously, pro forma questions, and they were gone.
But those aren't what I was moved to write about.
desert_vixen points out that being in the Army, which has a higher percentage of minorities than the population at large, can mute how soldier see racism.
A recruit who can't handle a black person (or an Hispanic) yelling at them, will get chaptered out. Guys in my company at Basic, had never seen anyone who wasn't white.
Then I went to DLI. In an army which had about 25 percent blacks, there were 4 in my company, of 182 soldiers.
WTF?
We talked about it. It bothered us. We tried to figure it out. All we could come up with was the difficulty of getting in. Not that it was all that hard. But the recruiter had to work harder. The candidate had to take a test; and a damned odd one. One that most people fail at, even ones who have some schooling in a second language. And there's a, somewhat more than cursory, background check.
All we could figure is that lazy/nervous recruiters weren't offering the chance to the recruits. They assumed that the black kids couldn't pass, and perhaps that, were they offered the idea of something glamorous, and then had it fade away, they'd elect to not join the army.
And that seems to be true, across the board. There were very few blacks in the other services student detachments either.
So even in a place which has some very good ways of dealing with race (and the Army has some very good ways of dealing with race), can have this sort of blind spot, where subtle bits of bias creep in, and color the whole thing.
desert_vixen, who points out she has a hard time writing about this, because she's got privilege. I have more privilege, I'm not only white, I'm male.I have, however, experienced racism, though at a remove.
When I was a kid there was a drive for the United Way. I asked my mother for money. She said no. If I wanted to give the UW money, I could, but she wasn't going to contribute. I asked her why, and she told me they had a policy of supporting exactly matching the racial makeup of adoptees, to adoptors. At church (a progressive Vatican II type of place) we had a couple of bi-racial twins; and the thought that their parents (white) couldn't adopt them made my blood run cold.
That was my first stand on the subject (I was the only one who didn't contribute. I was the only one who didn't contribute for a long time, until they changed that policy).
Later, my second stepfather was black. We got robbed (lived in a less than afluent chunk of town). The cops were very attentive to me (all of 14) until he came to the door. At which point I could see them shut down. A couple of, obviously, pro forma questions, and they were gone.
But those aren't what I was moved to write about.
desert_vixen points out that being in the Army, which has a higher percentage of minorities than the population at large, can mute how soldier see racism.A recruit who can't handle a black person (or an Hispanic) yelling at them, will get chaptered out. Guys in my company at Basic, had never seen anyone who wasn't white.
Then I went to DLI. In an army which had about 25 percent blacks, there were 4 in my company, of 182 soldiers.
WTF?
We talked about it. It bothered us. We tried to figure it out. All we could come up with was the difficulty of getting in. Not that it was all that hard. But the recruiter had to work harder. The candidate had to take a test; and a damned odd one. One that most people fail at, even ones who have some schooling in a second language. And there's a, somewhat more than cursory, background check.
All we could figure is that lazy/nervous recruiters weren't offering the chance to the recruits. They assumed that the black kids couldn't pass, and perhaps that, were they offered the idea of something glamorous, and then had it fade away, they'd elect to not join the army.
And that seems to be true, across the board. There were very few blacks in the other services student detachments either.
So even in a place which has some very good ways of dealing with race (and the Army has some very good ways of dealing with race), can have this sort of blind spot, where subtle bits of bias creep in, and color the whole thing.
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 12:01 am (UTC)Whatever the reality may be, I think there might be a perception that a kid who comes from inner-city Anywhere, USA is going to have a more...um...colorful past than some kid from Bumpkinville, USA, and so, they're reluctant to put kids in spots when they might have a record, which adds a lot to getting a clearance. After all, why send a kid to DLI when there's a chance that he/she won't be able to get that TS anyway?
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 12:37 am (UTC)So the idea is, the "other", esp. the black other is likely to have had problems, which is true; and deserving of a completely different post.
And the recruiter just bags the thought; rather than risk losing the quota-filling signature.
TK
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 01:12 am (UTC):-) I had a NAC waiver to get out of AIT, and I had a helluva time getting my secret, but that was mostly financial woes.