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Path: utzoo!decvax!wivax!linus!allegra!eagle!mhuxt!mhuxi!mhuxa!houxm!ihnp4!ihuxx!ignatz
From: ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Black Paranoia(I"m not paranoid, I"m right!)
Message-ID: <431@ihuxx.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-Jun-83 14:32:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxx.431
Posted: Wed Jun  1 14:32:48 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Jun-83 00:29:13 EDT
References: ssc-vax.230, <5283@unc.UUCP>
Organization: BTL Naperville, Il.
Lines: 65

Fascinating, but important flame we've re-lit here.  I'm at work, and don't
want to spend a lot of time on this--because one problem on the net is that
you are always either preaching to the converted, or inflaming the opposition.
In the last 3 years, I can think of only a couple of people who really changed
their views because of net discussion, and that because of individual mail
dialogues (or, in one case, a phonecon).  So maybe I'll just drop my
observations on the original message and Andy's response:

1)  Don't give me 500 years.  Any group in the world can go back far enough
    and find a period of discrimination; *I* didn't do it to them, and *I*
    refuse to accept the blame.  All that I owe you is a fair, even chance
    based on ability and skill.  THAT's what AA should be about; not
    retribution.  And quotas are silly; what if you can't find x% who are
    qualified??  Hell, talking quotas, if you stuck to demographic figures,
    how many blacks would get hired?  Hire/promote according to ability; and
    if there's ever *any* question that anything else intervened, investigate.
    AA should support *that*, not just numbers.

2)  No, it's not paranoia; I learned that emphatically when my folks moved
    to Houston, and I saw the Southern way of life.  (Fortunately, this
    prepared me for the whole shebang here in Chicago...)  The problem is
    that some blacks, as you will find in any group of people, abuse the
    law--they use it to advantage, instead of simply assuring an equal chance.

    REAL LIFE ANECDOTE:

    A couple of years ago I was on a Hi-Pri project at , Inc. as a consultant.  We were frantically working on a multi-
    megabuck project, and happened to hire a man who seemed to be a real
    win for the group; he was, incidentally, black.  He claimed that he'd
    been a supervisor, programmer, and analyst for a number of years; he
    was personable and convincing, so the resume was accepted without
    anything more than a phone call corroborating that he'd worked at the
    last place of employment (i.e., call records; "Yes, so-and-so worked
    here in the DP department.").  He was given an initial task commensurate
    with his represented skills, which would give him some time to come
    on-board and still complete a critical part of the project.  This
    consisted of making a minicomputer talk to a microcomputer which was
    serving as a data-buffer for a network of micros; he had the minicomputer
    end.  It required a good understanding of protocol handling, hardware
    i/o, assembler programming, and machine utilities.  Not too much, eh?
	Well, in the course of the work, he proved incompetent.  I can't
    describe it any other way; he couldn't even figure out how to copy files
    from one floppy to another, even with the man page!  Finally, after the
    project had been held up for several weeks, he was terminated.  You guessed
    it--he brought an affirmative action suite against the company, *and* wanted
    to sue for money!  Fortunately, one of the supervisors at the company had
    been through this before, and had a secretary keep a running log of the
    various complaints that all of the project members.  Dated; and for several
    weeks.  So, when the feds dropped in, they accepted this log and dropped
    the issue.  BUT:  Could *I* have brought suite?  Would they have had to
    keep such a log to fire *me*?  Not bloody likely.  THIS type of mistreatment

Enough.  This could go on forever, and the counter stories of prejudice,
discrimination, and violence are just as long or longer.  Our--humankind's--
history has great moments--but is also, unfortunately, one unbroken string
of some group opressing another.  You can't point back at the past; no one
is going to listen. Deal with the present and future; getting
the right to fair and equal consideration, supported by law, is a stride
forward--and the best anyone can get.  Protect it by preventing its abuse,
invoking it where necessary, and eventually, through hard-nosed performance and
ability, making the legal sanctions unnecessary. (I like apple pie, too.)

				Dave Ihnat
				ihuxx!ignatz