I'm White...

I had a job interview today for a job that I really wanted. The final outcome: I'm white. According to the interviewer: I rocked the interview, I have mad skills, everyone loved me. But I was up against a bi-racial woman and that was the key factor. I am both angry and sad. If no people of color had applied, would I have gotten the job? Have we liberal white folks gone so far to the left that we're using the same tactics as the right wingers? Basing decisions on a person's race? What if I was all the way Black up against a biracial person? Would that have trumped?

When the call came I was having a beer with a couple of my kids. As a parent, I have taught my kids to never judge based on outward appearances. People are people and their outside rarely says anything about the inside. During the interview, I commented on how everyone has pockets of bigotry that come up. It's when we recognize them and work towards changing them that we grow and society as a whole benefits.

When, when, will we ever get over using race as a qualifier or a denier of people? When, please, will we judge people on their individual qualities rather than what they look like? Until we do, every decision is a marred. If you're an ass, you're an ass and the color of your skin doesn't mitigate that.

In the midst of my anger and sad tears (it's never pretty crying in a bar), another call came with a job proposition from a much more conservative organization. My kid quips "the liberals don't want you but the Catholics embrace you." Too funny. A queer, tatted, pierced, loudmouth radical like me....