Classism exists in the United States

What made the United States unique from other countries when it began was the lack of classism.  Until Henry Ford/UAW and the G.I. bill most Americans were poor.  A few were very rich.  Racism was legal even if it was unfair. Otherwise opportunity of some sort existed for everyone.  Not anymore. 

Henry Ford with the help of the UAW was the first one to introduce the advantages of paying good wages, supplying health benefits and pensions, giving a voice to the workers.  His reasoning was if you pay your employees more, they can afford to buy more of the products that you produce. 

The G.I. bill gave a big step up to the working man by providing affordable higher education.

I first experienced a change in perspective when I was 12. My generation  wanted to throw away everything their parents believed in - morality, ethics, hard work.    Deserving people lived in the suburbs.  Farmers were looked down on.  They worked.  City dwellers were looked down on.  They had to be poor or they'd live in the suburbs.   Poor people are lazy otherwise they'd be rich.  Only suburbanites counted. Suburbanites are entitled.  

Then the hippies arrived.  They put down their parents' generation.  They laughed at religion, ethics, morality, hard work, patriotism..  If it feels good, do it.  Don't think about anyone else.  If it feels good, it must be right.  Don't think about the future.   

Now the new century has exploded against the working class.  Henry Ford's theory has been thrown out by not only management but by the young Paris Hilton wanna-be's. Suddenly companies can make more money by exporting the jobs to countries where there are no legal requirements to protect the environment, to be honest, to pay a living wage, provide a pension, provide health care, to produce quality goods.  And Americans are falling for this nonsense.  Americans can save money by buying these products made overseas.  You can save money by putting your neighbors out of work.  

Yes racism exists. But what makes you think that bigots limit their prejudice to just to one criteria?

The worst bigots are young girls who judge everyone by physical appearance. Apparently, their brains don't function at a higher level. They do judge a book by its cover. Yes, I am white, but I am handicapped. I've seen that look of disgust, almost always from females. Bigots think your defect is contagious. Bigots think if they let you too close they'll catch your handicap be it deafness or skin color. That's why they're scared. They think you are contagious.

I've been patronized,  even by a Black woman, who was a department head.  She was in charge.  It was her job to help me as I was being stalked off-site and off-hours by my boss. .  She said, "I don't know how you expect me to help you,  you're not Black". That's racist.  I've been shafted by plagiarists and embezzlers. I've been refused job applications.  I'm a paying customer. Yet the young cute girl at H&R Block refused to do my taxes. She said, "I don't have to do your taxes." A cute young female employee of H&R Block doesn't have to wait on someone who is handicapped?. Then why do the handicapped have to pay taxes? Why is H&R Block so prejudice against tax-payers? They prefer tax-cheaters?

Two recent TV shows caught my attention.  One show tried to show cops being prejudice against Blacks.  But what the audience mis-understood and Black people do too for that matter, is that the Black person DID something that caught the cop's attention.  As I worked at the Police Station, I knew first hand what a cop looks for. I know just how to get a cop's attention and how to avoid it. Granted, being Black may attract some initial attention but then the Black person DID something to arouse the cop's suspicion.  The only thing a Black person CAN do is change what they DO.  And what you DO does count. And should be the only thing that counts although it seems to count less and less.

The other show is Black and White on F/X.  Boy is that white mother an idiot.  And almost every  upper-class  woman I have ever met is an idiot just like her. That's because when a young cute girl grows up, she becomes even more arrogant and conceited and believes that being "nice" is all that matters. It's okay to patronize those less fortunate as long as your patronize, nicely,.  But in my generation it didn't matter.  They just got married and pregnant.  But now these women WANT the careers too.  That's why I ran into one at H&R Block.  That's why American business has taken a turn for the worse.  That's why companies don't answer their phone.  Most people blame technology. That 's part of it.  But now the people in charge are cute young girls who think they are better than you, and they don't have to lower themselves to your level.  You're a customer.  Now the word customer has been reduced to four letters.    

If you look poor, you must be submissive. If you are handicapped, you must be submissive.  In my generation, if you were a woman you had to be submissive.  I am not submissive.  If your ears don't work, you must be stupid.  If your eyes don't work, you must be stupid.  If you are in a wheelchair, you must be stupid. If you are Black you must be on welfare and sell drugs. If you wear a turban you must be a terrorist.  Most people will look away, politely, or talk over your head as if you aren't even there. And they will patronize you.  They will decide what you need.  They won't ask.  After all, they aren't handicapped and they will just assume an air of superiority..  They are better than you. And they are being so nice to think for you.  They will not listen.  They don't have to listen to someone who is handicapped as they think the handicapped can't think and they are justified in thinking for you.  .  Well I can think.  I am not submissive. 

I can't believe a recent phone call I made to an out-of-state cemetery for information on my grandparents' grave.  I'm not planning on going there, I'm just going to add the info to my genealogy. As I have a speech impediment, the clerk probably meant well but she was so emphatic that I not WALK through their cemetery.  She just assumed that because I could not talk, I must not know how to walk. 

But what about the white man on the F/X show?  He thinks like me.  Yes there are practical things a person can do to overcome life's adversities.  Want to borrow money to buy a car?  Want to borrow money to buy a house?  Your job history will affect your ability to borrow. Your past actions will affect your ability to borrow. When I first started working for the City of Grand Rapids, white full-time male employees could apply for a loan and their acceptance was determined by their past conduct.  BUT full-time Black employees were not even allowed to APPLY.  And neither were women for that matter.  Their behavior wasn't an issue. Their bill-paying history wasn't a factor.  Black - can't apply.  Female - can't apply.  Now do you understand the difference?

Point-of-view differences:  Blacks and Whites interpret opportunity and "that's life" setbacks as well as public behavior differently AND commit crimes differently. 

Blacks take life's setbacks too personally.  They assume Whites receive all the opportunities handed to them on a silver platter.  Some do, sometimes.  But not all do, all the time.  I've personally observed Blacks refuse opportunities that a White person would eagerly bend down and grab.  I'll give you an example.  The heating season is October 15 to April 15.  One early April, a landlord called me, a government housing inspector,  to say the furnace had failed, it had asbestos and the abatement company's first available appointment wasn't for 6 months.  They couldn't come out until late October.  I told him just to send me a copy of the appointment letter from the furnace company and I would file it as he was just squeaking by the heating season. There was not enough time to me to do anything about it before the deadline arrived.  A few days later the White landlord called back.  The asbestos company had just received a cancellation and could come out that afternoon BUT the tenant wouldn't let them in. I told the landlord that the deadline had passed and  a lack of a working furnace was no longer  a violation and I could not force the tenant to let him in.  I called the Black tenant who complained that the landlord was "disrespecten me."  I said, "Disrespect now and heat later or is your respect going to keep you warm next Fall? The choice is yours."  He chose respect.  I told him not to call and complain about no heat next Fall.  Well he did call and was he amazed that I would not penalize the landlord.  He said, "But I don't have heat NOW.  I said, "It was your choice".  That's what Blacks don't see.  Not all of life's setbacks are racist.   Racism gives you fewer choices but you still have a choice.

Life's setbacks are caused by just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That's where I've been.  Always.  But not as bad as a friend.  She joined the army and was stationed in Iraq just before the Shah was overthrown.  She was transferred to  Rapid City, South Dakota  just before a big flood.  She was transferred to Biloxi, Mississippi just before a big Hurricane. Now she is in Minnesota. Hmm.  I don't think I'll vacation there.     

And Blacks are less discreet than Whites.  That's what gets them in trouble.  They commit more Slash and Grab crimes that are easily detected. Whites are better at being sneaky. Whites smile to your face while they are stabbing you in the back.  I'll give you another example.  Let's say a Polish man beats his wife.  She pulls down the shades.  She hides. She tells everyone she bumped into a door.  Let's say a Black man beats his wife.  She grabs a frying pan and chases him down the street.  A crowd gathers.  Traffic jam.  Police.    

And not every White person who takes advantage of a Black person is racist.  Racism just makes Blacks more vulnerable to those willing to take advantage of anyone and everyone, anywhere at anytime; the greedy, the selfish, the conceited, the arrogant.  After I had my stroke and couldn't handle stairs, I made the mistake of moving to a flat house in the "slums" of what had been a farm town but is now a hoity-toity lily-white suburb where everyone is the "same".  Nobody walks, anywhere, for anything, for any reason.  Well, I walk everyday.  I have to walk.  Unsteadily, but I walk.  And I've had the police called on me so often as a "suspicious stranger" that when the police pull up they just say, "Oh, it's you" and drive away. 

Why do people assume strangers are to be feared?  The bad guy is more likely someone you know and trust.  Maybe your sister?  I trust no-one.  Particularly my sister. 

Another episode of Black and White.  I like the Black woman.  She tried a variety of White social activities, and was capable of realizing that different types of people were drawn to different activities so she just kept searching until she clicked. I did not like the Black man.  He can't understand why "Black" Bruno doesn't experience any racism.  That's because of the way Bruno behaves.  He's non-threatening and straight-forward with no hidden agenda.  People like him regardless of his skin color. The Black man has a chip on his shoulder daring any White person to knock it off.  He doesn't like the term "playing the race card".  That's because he doesn't understand what it means.  It does not mean racism doesn't exist. It does not mean racism isn't having an impact on the situation.  It means you are using racism as an excuse to ignore your own behavior. I'll give you another example.  A Black girl at work inadvertently and unknowingly received a raise her boss coveted.  She didn't see that the boss was unjustifiably mad at her. She gloated.  When she got fired, she said, "because I'm Black."  No, she got fired because she gloated.  The big boss saved her butt because she was Black and transferred her at her higher salary to another department..  That's racism! Back to F/X.  The Black man's  comfortable-to-him social behavior is mis-interpreted as aggression.  Just like the deaf. That's why a group of Black men runs into trouble because their natural-to-them social behavior is mis-interpreted. The Black man interprets Bruno's dislike of smoke and booze as really hidden racism.  Well then go with Bruno to a group of smoking boozing White men and see how he reacts. The Black man is the one who is really a racist. The Black man is not looking at how he behaves. At the domino game, another Black man said he is scared of white people.  Me, I'm wary of all people, particularly young cute females and my sister. And that's why, I, a deaf-cultured person gets along so well with Blacks and not white females.  The cutie-pies feel justified in putting me down because I don't behave the way they think I should. I don't behave the way they do.  I don't want to behave the way they do.  I behave like the Blacks and deaf do - in your face. 

And the Black man, Brian,  believes in reparations.  And I agree!  Now all you have to do is consult my How-to-do-genealogy page and 1.  Trace all the descendants of the slave owners  2.  Trace all the descendants of slaves  And then compare the haves with the have-nots and determine an equitable split.  And now with DNA it should be easy.  Hey, I'm a fifteenth cousin of Queen Elizabeth!  Do you think she'll share Windsor Castle with me? Maybe I can get free admission as a tourist.

Blacks want to be equal legally but unique culturally.  And they compare the poorest Blacks with the richest Whites and ignore everyone else in between.  Blacks weren't the only slaves in the Western Hemisphere.  Blacks were the only LEGAL slaves mentioned in the Constitution. Were women even mentioned? And Blacks got the right to vote 60 years before WOMEN.  So go vote.  And not for a TV show.

Blacks need to stop re-living the sorrows of their ancestors.  You will have enough of your own sorrows. Preserve and honor your ancestors'  heritage in museums.  Genealogy!  Location, Location, Location.  Louisiana has some of the best recorded information on slaves.  Where did you ancestors come from?.  Did you pay attention to grandma?  

I just happened to catch a re-run of F/X Black and White - an episode I hadn't seen before.  Two things struck me. 

1. The white girl had been posing as a Black girl in a rap poetry reading class. This time Black kids were having their rap poetry reading in her house, the first time they realized she was a White girl.  At the end, the White mother stood up.  She offended the Black audience because she said, "gorgeous Black creature". I immediately thought of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon".  The Black members of the audience were offended.

This is what I think she meant.  Some women must  compete always, continually about everything.  Her hair is the best of anyone else's in the room.  Her dress is better.  Her shoes are better.  Her 'hello" was better.  Her smile was bigger.  Her teeth are whiter. She is cleaner. She is taller.  She is thinner.   That's what this White woman is:  A Constant Competitor against others who don't even realize they are in a competition with her for something they may not even want or notice.   She was faced with her daughter (she must have the best daughter) competing in a rap poetry contest. Her daughter, her family had to be the best. So when she stood up, I expected her to rap.  But she didn't go that far yet she had to be creative.  So she meant no offense against the Blacks.  She couldn't see that they couldn't see that she was a Constant Competitor.  She may not even realize herself. And CC's aren't trying to put someone else down as much as they are trying to puff themselves up - to prove to themselves that they are worthy to exist by being the BEST in their own mind.  There are only two choices in their world:  the Best or non-existent.

2. The clothes made me laugh.  This White woman thought she had to wear African ethnic clothes to a Black American Church.  f I invited this White woman to a Dutch Reformed church will she think she has to wear a lace cap and wooden shoes?    Hey, women of my generation and my mother's generation always wore Sunday-go-to-Meetin outfits.  Their best long-sleeve dress, their best shoes, their best hat.  I have to admit I haven't been in church in 30 years.  I have no idea of what the younger generation wears in church - thong bikinis? I

3.  I have to admit that the Black man's, Brian?, comment about getting better service in a shoe store when he was posing as White made me think.  Then I remembered, how it used to be very common for single women to be refused service in a restaurant.  I am and always have been a working woman.  I got poor or non-existent service in many restaurants as a single woman.  That has improved some.  ---  Now I have to eat those words. Running an errand today I stopped at a new-to-me restaurant.  I arrived just after two individual men.  They got waited on right away.  I did not.  I caught the waitress as she hurried by and asked for a menu and a class of water.  She threw the menu at me.  I never got a class of water.  The men got their food and their drinks.  I got nothing.  Finally I just left.  But I forgot my reading glasses and went back in.  No one noticed.  I was invisible. 

                                             War against the Working Class

Prejudice against the working class starts in junior high when cute young girls from white-collar suburban families begin to compete with poor girls from the working class for BOYS.  Cute young girls feel entitled to a good life via a good husband that they can best catch by going to a good college.  They wear the right clothes.  They go to the right stores.  They go to the right college.  They are entitled.  They get a "job" they don't have to take seriously to get money to buy the right clothes at the right stores.  Daddy pays for their living expenses.  They are entitled.  Then they get married and hubby pays the bills.  Their only outlet was social.  The could go two ways.  1.  Volunteer for the community, charity and help the needy often by puffing themselves up and  patronizing the mis-fortunate..  2.  Join the "right" social group and look down their noses at those less fortunate but don't help them.

But now these girls WANT it all.  They WANT the husband, the kids, the mansion in the suburbs, the social position AND a CAREER!  Not a job, a career!  Now they get an important position in business but carry their bigotry into the business world.  They don't have to be nice to a CUSTOMER if that customer is perceived as their social inferior.  And anyone who WORKS is inferior.  After all, she doesn't sweat.  She's cute.  If you sweat, you're socially inferior.  If you don't wear the right clothes, you are socially inferior.  If you have to work, you're socially inferior.

My first boss was an 80-year-old woman.  She worked.  I never got a dime from my parents for any reason.  I worked.  The cute young things didn't last long, they got married.  So the bosses were always old. The male bosses' girlfriends never got beyond "personal" secretary.   Oh I remember the cute young things with the stiletto heels and plunging necklines who were the bosses' "personal" secretary.  She was hoity-toity, arrogant and didn't actually do any work.  We just ignored her.   But now she is promoted to an under boss.  The bosses are cute-young things who feel entitled. She still doesn't do any work but she's in a position where she can do a lot of harm.  But only to other women who are their social inferiors.  And to men who are Mexican or  Black or fat and undesirable to catch.

These "cute" girls even when they get older act as if they are entitled to put-down any customer they don't perceive as their social equal.

I am editing a letter for space that  I wrote to H&R Block:

I am making a complaint about your staff. If you are not the right person, then forward this letter to him. I am not responsible for knowing your internal hierarchy.

I am a retired employee of the City of Grand Rapids. I was a state-certified real property appraiser. I had a stroke. I am hearing-impaired. I have a speech impediment. I stumble when I walk.

I made an appointment for 10 A.M. I left my home at 9:30 to make sure I would arrive in time. A gentleman who was a walk-in was just ahead of me. His name was Joseph Cz -a long Polish name. The receptionist asked him how to spell his name. After he spelled his last name, she said, "How do you spell Joseph?" I couldn't believe anyone could be that stupid. My gut instinct was to walk out. I should have. Then she assisted me. I told her I had an appointment. She gave me a privacy notice that was written in very small print that I could not read. I gave it back. She said, "I am required to give it to you." I said, "You did give it to me. Now I'm giving it back."

I was told to sit down along with the Polish man to wait. The receptionist went into a back room and returned with one lady. This lady said, "so and so thought there was only one person so she took break." The receptionist gave the walk-in man who did not have an appointment to this lady. I continued to wait and wait and wait. Then another man came in who did not have an appointment. The receptionist again went to the back room and returned with another lady who waited on the second man without an appointment.

When finished with him, she dawdled and then finally came and got me. I had trouble getting up out of the chair. I walked back to her desk which was not in a private office but out in the open and I gave her my papers. I told her that I had an appointment. She said contemptuously, "It was for 10 o'clock. It's exactly 10 o'clock."

She started entering the address information off the forms I had given her reading it out loud as she went. I stopped her with, "that address is wrong". She acted very affronted and said something like, "I'm reading it off this form." I said, "Well, it's wrong." Then she asked me for my email address. I told her I saw no reason why she needed my email address as I sure didn't need any spam. She then pushed my papers back at me and said, "I don't have to do your taxes." I was stunned.

Then the other lady left her client and came over from across the room and was very patronizing and said, "Would you like me to call Dial-a-Ride?" Since I didn't arrive by bus, this made no sense. I told her I was leaving and to get out of my face. She said she was going to call the police. I told her to go ahead.

As I was leaving, the receptionist had a big smile on her face and was snickering.

I went somewhere else and got my taxes done. This person discovered the addressing error that Social Security had made. She said that I hadn't noticed because I had direct deposit. She called Social Security and corrected the addressing error.

So my questions to you, and I don't need the answers, but you sure do.

1. Why is a walk-in taken before someone with an appointment?

2. Why are two men without appointments assisted before a woman?

3. Why is a handicapped person treated disrespectfully?

4. Why is a paying customer turned away?

When I told the ladies at my handicapped swimming class they guessed these young girls thought I was drunk. And even if I had been drunk, that is no reason for an employee to make fun of a customer, insult a customer, laugh at a customer, refuse to serve a customer.

Your employees were arrogant and conceited who behaved as if they thought they were better than I and didn't have to lower themselves to my level.

I can assure you that I will never go to H&R Block again for any reason. And I can assure you I have told everyone I can think of including those from out-of-state my opinion of H&R Block. Maybe I should add this letter to my web-site.

I suggest you have a serious talk with these cute young girls.

Sincerely,

From Article: essays

From Heading: Personal Background

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Last modified: 05/17/10