Racism a Thing of the Past or Still Present in the Working World

I grew up in a part of the old south where you could end up dead if you were a white woman seen dating a black male. As I moved to larger cities the feel changed as people became more at easy with cross cultural dating. Although I did have one or two boyfriends who feared telling their parents that they were dating a white girl. My first child was an African American male but I lost the child during my fourth month of the pregnancy. I have more than a few cousins who are African American. I am one of those strange people who has been color blind like my cousins from birth even thought we grew up in a very racist culture.

When I moved to New Mexico I openly dated African Americans with not so much as a cross word or feeling that any harm would ever come to me. I have lived in New Mexico for the past twenty two years and had forgotten what that type of hate could feel like until a few months ago.

I have a new coworker and it is clear that she is racist and open about the behavior. I have watched her turn students away and even act rude toward one student. I have reported it to her supervisor, my own supervisor and my dean. I find nothing more offensive then this woman’s behavior because those students depend on us for help when they need it most.

We are on the edge of electing our first African American president in this country and some have said that it clearly proves that racism is a thing of the past but I wonder just how true that is when some people feel that they can still mistreat people because of their skin color. You would have though that the Dean of my school would have been far more outraged to hear that this woman was behaving so toward an African American student but he remained far to calm from my point of view. I can only hope that tomorrow will bring a change in the direction of this country and that hate will not win out over hope.