Don't tear down my people. Don't talk to
me about my people. When when your whole
mo is family, family, family, your whole
mo is family. Don't come to me and say
disparaging things about my people to
me.
You could talk all you want. I know the
way that you guys talk. I know the
feelings that you guys have about black
people. Don't bring no black dude home.
You like rap music. You want to say
[ __ ] and mayate. You want to say both
of those.
We We know how you feel and the black
community is well aware
of the hate that comes from the Hispanic
community. Even though we don't hate you
guys,
even though we don't reciprocate and we
don't even match that energy,
we live in America. We live amongst our
capttors. We live with the white man.
And most of us don't even hate the white
man.
We civil. We cool. We just trying to be
left alone and we trying to be peaceful.
Holy [ __ ] It's a tribe called best.
So today, what I have for you is a
racist work story.
So I'm at work one day. I'm just hanging
around the office and I'm waiting to
clock out.
It is me and the 204B.
He's closing the office today. Just for
the sake of the story, I'm going to be
very detail oriented. The 204B is a
black man.
204B. We just sitting around. We just
kicking it. We just talking. A coworker
walks in. Another male carrier. His name
is Mike. He's a Mexican. Let's call him
Mexican Mike. Mexican Mike walks in. We
don't acknowledge each other. It's not a
head nod. It's not a fist bump. It's not
a hi. It's not a sub. It's It's not
nothing. We don't even acknowledge each
other. He goes to his case. I go to my
case. Okay.
The 204B
gets a phone call. He on his cell phone.
He goes outside.
Soon as the 204B goes outside, Mexican
Mike approaches me. He makes a beline
for me.
He starts talking. He starts giving me
unsolicited
info. He starts telling me the answers
to questions that I didn't ask.
Mexican Mike walks up to me and says,
"Hey, I got about three or four
grievances going. I'm going to get her."
In the 48 Laws of Power, it says
sometimes to catch a dummy, you have to
be a dummy. So, I get dumb on this dumb
ass.
I said, "You got three or four
grievances going. You're going to get
her. Get who?"
He says, "Brandy."
Brandy is the station supervisor. Brandy
is a black woman.
I said, "Uh, why you going to get her?"
I said, "What did she do to you?" He
said, "Uh,
Mexican Mike says, uh, it's a race
thing.
I said, "This is America." I said,
"Everything is a race thing." I said,
"What did she do to you this racist?"
Mexican Mike says, "You know how black
women are." I look at him and I say,
"Hey, tread lightly."
I said, "Go ahead, but tread lightly."
Mexican Mike says, "Well, well, black
women, they get in positions of power
and they don't know how to conduct
themselves. They get all power happy and
and they get crazy when they get in
positions of power.
I said word.
Yeah, they do. I said that's cap say you
don't know what you're talking about.
I do know what I'm talking about.
Mexican Mike says.
I said
you're painting black women with a broad
stroke. You're saying women plural, more
than one. They get in positions of power
and they don't know how to handle it.
They get crazy. I said, "Uh, how many
black women have you worked for in your
career?" He says, "Brandy. And there's a
manager over at Signal Hill and she's
worse than Brandy. Brandy has nothing on
her."
I said, "So, let me get this straight."
I said, "If my math is correct, you've
worked with two black women." Two. I
said, "So, the way that you said uh
black women don't know how to handle
power and black women are crazy and
black women abuse their power, the way
that you said women
plural, I just I assumed that you had
worked with every black woman in the
world and they had all done you wrong."
That that's just that's what I thought.
But if my math is right, you had two
experiences with two black women. Now
all black women are crazy.
Yeah. Good job, Mexican Mike.
So all the while we're talking, we're
having this conversation. This
conversation is over the course of like
15 minutes and he and I are the only
ones in the office. We're not the only
ones in the office. There's a third
person, but the third person is over
there lurking in the shadows,
lingering, listening, easedropping, ear
hustling. There's a third person there,
but um I don't think that she knows that
we saw her. I don't think that she knows
that we know that she's there.
So, it's just me and Mexican Mike. Okay.
So, Mexican Mike says, "Um, yeah, I'm
I'mma get her. You know, I'mma hit her
with these grievances and and I'mma fix
her." And I said, "Okay." I said, "So,
um, hey, what are the grievances about?"
Mexican Mike says, "Man, you know how we
work all these pivots, man? I don't want
to work these pivots. I'm getting a
45minute pivot every day and I can't
make the pivot."
Mexican Mike says, "I come to work at
8:30."
That's an hour after the OTDL.
So I hit the streets an hour later and I
get a pivot. So that means I get home
later.
I said, "So
you're you're you're going to pull the
race card on her because she's assigning
you work."
No. No. No. You don't understand. what
she's doing is harassment and bullying.
I says to him, "Okay, uh, Mexican Mike."
I said, "So, what is Brandy doing to
you? This harassment and bullying."
He says, "Well, well, you know, you you
know how black women are and I'm a
Mexican man and she's a black woman and
and you know, I just feel like it's an
abuse of power."
I'm just I'm sitting there while he's
talking and I'm just doing the math on
it. I'm just like extrapolating little
pieces of information from this idiot uh
babble that he's just, you know, that is
coming out of his mouth. So,
you're angry
and she's specifically targeting you
with uh discrimination cuz you're a man
and she's a woman. and you're angry and
she's
specifically targeting you with acts of
racism because she's giving you pivots.
She's giving you the same work that
she's given everybody else.
The thing that you don't want to do is
the thing that nobody else in the office
wants to do. Nobody wants to pivot.
The OTDL comes in at 7:30. Everybody
else comes in at 8:30. You're pissed and
upset and angry about your start time
cuz you come in at 8:30. You're not the
only one that comes in at 8:30.
You sound soft. I'm a man. She's a
woman. So I I I asked him. I said I
said, "But what did she do to you?"
He said, "Well, why I'm pissed?" I said,
Your your ego is that fragile
that you're pissed cuz she's a woman and
you're a man.
No, no, no. Listen to me. Listen to me.
I'm going to get some change around
here. I got it all planned out. I'm
going to get some change around here. I
said, "Hey, good luck, homie." I said,
"I've been here for five years."
I said, "She's a minister to society."
I said, "I've beefed with my supervisor,
Brandy." I said, "Everybody in here has
beefed with the supervisor, Brandy.
She's mean. She's honory. She has a chip
on her shoulder. She has a point to
prove. One thing about her though, she's
an equal opportunist. I never seen her
discriminate against anyone. I never
seen her do anything racist. She is an
equal opportunist asshole." I said,
"But,
you know, go go ahead and do your
thing." Um,
I said I I I wouldn't recommend it. I
wouldn't go about um enacting change
that way. You know, I wouldn't go and
lie on somebody and try to throw them
under the bus and affect their
livelihood. You know, I wouldn't try to
knock somebody off they pivot with lies
and propaganda.
He says, "Well, well, I got a plan and
um what I'm going to do is I'm going to
file these grievances. I'm going to give
them to the union steward. Then I'm
going to go to the station manager,
Aronzo. Now, the station manager,
Aronzo, is a Mexican man. So, he says
he's going to file his grievances with a
Union Stewart. He's going to then let
the station manager, Aronzo, know that
he filed the grievances. Then he's going
to kick them up the ladder to Impul.
And then he says, Impool is going to see
that I'm filing grievances. And he said,
"I'm going to keep filing grievances and
I'm going to keep filing them." He says,
"So then the district is going to say,
hm, why is it so many grievances from
this one person against this one
person?" And then they're going to say,
"We're tired of paying out grievances.
This is affecting our bottom line. This
is affecting our bonus." So then when I
start affecting their money, they're
going to investigate. and when they come
to investigate, I'm going to tell them
that she's harassing me and she's
racist.
I said, "But
do you have any proof that she's
harassing you or any proof that she's
racist?" And I said, "Did she harass you
or do anything racist?"
Whoa. We we shouldn't be working under
these types. And I said, "Look, man." I
said, "You're saying she's drunk with
power?" I said, "You're drunk with
power. You on that macheismo
bravado
construction worker womanhating
bullshit."
I said, "That's what that is." I said,
"That's all that that is." I said, "And
at this point, at this point, the vein
is popping out my neck. I'm on a rant.
I'm probably foaming at the mouth at
this point." I tell him, I said, "You're
you you you hate women. You hate women.
You're racist and misogynist. I said,
"Listen to me." I said, "I'm gonna tell
you something." I said I said I said,
"Who did you vote for?"
[ __ ] you guessed it. You know who he
voted for? The orange man with the red
hat. That's who he voted for. I told
him, I said 92%
of black women voted for Camala Harris.
Camala Harris lost. Your guy won. Now
your guy is kicking your people out of
your country.
He's deporting them to places that they
don't even live at. He's sending them to
places they they they they not even
from.
He's taking away their rights. He's
taking away their citizenship. He's
taking away their legal representation.
They're not getting due process. Right.
I said, "Now, black women are crazy and
drunk with power." I said, "But you
didn't even give this black woman the
opportunity to get in office and run the
country." I said because
I'm guessing
and probably and maybe and I'm
speculating that if Camala Harris was in
office
then we probably wouldn't be losing
citizenship and LGBTQ rights and we
probably wouldn't be losing DEI and
people probably wouldn't be getting sent
to random places.
The economy probably wouldn't be
crashing. we probably wouldn't be having
tariffs,
uh, mass ICE raids, um, deportation,
taking away birthright citizenship,
trying to and attempting to arrest
babies.
If the crazy psychomegammaniac woman was
in office, you know, we we probably
wouldn't be going through all of this.
I said, ' But you're so blinded by the
fact that you hate women and black women
and depending on how you looking at it.
Kamla, a racially ambiguous woman. She
was black though. She went to SBCU. But
you're so blinded by your hate and
bigotry and misogyny that you'll cut off
your nose to spite your face.
I told him, I said, "So, um, you're for
real?"
Well, that's what I'm going to do. I
said, that's stupid.
That's stupid and that's dumb and you're
racist. Well, we'll just agree to
disagree. I said, we will. I said, but
why don't you go into the office and
talk to Aronzo
about the start time? I said, "Why don't
you go in the office and talk to Aronzo
about the pivots?
He's a Mexican man. You're a Mexican
man. Maybe you could get this ironed
out. Maybe you're special. Maybe you're
an exception to the rule. Maybe you
won't have to come in at 8:30 and work
pivots cuz of Larazza, right? For the
people, right? Maybe you'll be an
exception to the rule. Just go ask them.
Have you talked to him?" Mexican Mike
says yes. I talked to Aronzo.
I said, "What did he tell you?" He said,
"Arlandonzo told me to talk to Brandy."
So, you're in a pickle, aren't you,
partner? You went to talk to him and he
sent you back to the person that you got
the problem with. That's his open door
policy.
His open door policy is come to me with
your problems. I'll resolve them. I'll
get to the bottom of it. I've been here
5 years. I haven't seen him get to the
bottom of anything but a donut box. I
haven't seen anyone's problems be
solved.
You went to your brethren and complained
about this black woman and he sent you
back to the black woman and said, "Take
it up with her. Go peasant peeon. I'm
making my six figures. I want my bonus.
Go do those pivots. Go give us free
labor." Pon peasant
[ __ ]
And the part about it that upsets me
that that makes me so mad, this whole
conversation, this whole interaction
that I had with Mexican Mike, the male
carrier, what makes me so mad about it
is
the whole Mexican lexicon. Well,
Hispanic people, I guess. I don't know
if they're all um like this, but grew up
with a lot of Mexicans and some
Salvadorans, but
the whole
Mexican lexicon is this
Vin Diesel family, family, larza,
you know, um all you know, all this
brown pride neighborhood, abolita,
grandma, grandpa, make sure everybody is
all right. I look out for my own type of
mentality.
And I was just thinking when he was
telling me this, you're not the only one
that gets to be family oriented and
you're not the only one that gets to
look out for Laazza, the people. You're
not the only one that gets to look out
for the race
because my manager, I don't particularly
care for her and I don't think she likes
me,
but I won't allow somebody to lie on her
and throw her under the bus and get her
[ __ ] up off of lies cuz I wouldn't
want nobody to jam me up with lies. Take
me down an honest way. If she did
something to you and you could destroy
her, if she god honest did something to
you and you could take her down, so be
it.
I got your back. It's a lot of things
around here that I don't like. I would
have your back if we was playing an
honest game.
But but you don't you don't get to be of
your people and for your people and
expect me not to be for my people.
cuz I was just sitting back thinking and
it was like a domino effect because
everything that happens with me it just
triggers thoughts bup
for a split second I understood not for
a split second I halfway half ass
understand why this idiot had the
audacity
to come to a black man and talk down on
a black woman I totally understand why
he came to me I'll tell you why
you open up the internet. You open up uh
your phone, your iPad, whatever, you see
these race wars and diaspora wars and
gender wars, and it's a cycle that
people keep perpetuating. And you get a
lot of these black men that are
self-hating negroes, and they're like
coons, and they perpetuate this certain
um way of life. There are a lot of black
men that don't like black women.
And I don't mean
like like I don't care who you date.
I don't care who you marry. I don't care
who you lay with. I don't care who you
play with. I don't care who you hang
with. I don't care who you bang with. If
you don't want to be with a black woman
or marry a black woman because there's
something else that you like, you got a
preference.
Good.
I get it. I agree with you. No problem,
partner.
The reason he felt so comfortable coming
to me saying disparaging things about
black women is because I'm sure, and I'm
quite sure, and I'm positive, he
probably sees other black men talking
about how they don't like black women.
Cuz a lot of black men sit around with a
black mama and a black sister and a
black daughter and a black niece and
usually a black girlfriend. and they
have disparaging things to say about
black women.
A lot of black men will
talk about how bad black women are, how
runchy they are, and and and how awful
and horrible black women are, and they
go and find the same qualities in
another race.
You discarded your piece of trash to go
get another racist piece of trash.
You're walking around with a piece of
garbage of a different color. You didn't
upgrade. You just changed colors.
So, in my opinion, in my summation,
I just think that that's probably why he
felt so comfortable coming to me, a
black man, saying discouraging things
about black women.
I asked him, I said,
you know, I I said like, man, I said I
told him, I said, I'm really glad we had
this conversation, you know, um cuz now
I know you. And I said, um I got a
question. I said,
what would you think if I started saying
disparaging things about Hispanic women?
What would you think if I started
throwing around views and opinions about
Mexican women?
What would you think about that? Would
you like that?
Well, I'm just saying what I said is
just it's just my my opinion.
Well, your opinion is wrong. Your
opinion is stupid, homes,
because it it's it's a phrase that I say
to people all the time. It's a quote
that I give to people all the time. I
say it so much.
You're not paranoid if they're really
out to get you.
I tell people that all the time. you're
not paranoid if they're really out to
get you. Now, in this country,
we know systematic racism. We know a
black person's uh relationship to
America and the white man in America and
other minority groups in America. And we
also live in the time of you can't say
nothing. Everything is offensive.
Everything uh everyone is offended. And
also, people just want to be treated
right. There's so many things that we
can't and shouldn't and won't say just
because people should be respected and
treated right. That's the time that we
live in. We also live in a time of
buzzwords and trigger words.
So, what you're telling me is you're
going to go and weaponize some of those
trigger words. You're going to go to the
union steward and to the office manager
and to the district and you're going to
use words like harassment and bully and
racism.
Knowing godamn well that black people
are the scapegoat.
Knowing that if something is said by a
black person, it will be believed.
Because if you're not black, you're
white. And if you're not black, you're
probably antilack.
So, you know the power that you have.
You know the power to get out there and
weaponize certain things against black
people.
My skin is my saying. We're born with
the admission of guilt. We're guilty of
something even when we're guilty of
nothing.
Always escaping persecution.
But I'm blessed.
I'm beautiful.
Nothing but good things come to me.
Holy [ __ ] It's a tribe called best.
as a foundational black American,
not myself personally. I didn't build
anything. I wasn't born, but this
country was built on the back of my
ancestors.
um Jim Crow and and and green books and
and um all this segregation and being
ate up by German shepherds and hit with
water hoses and knocked upside the
[ __ ] head with bricks and protests
and sitins and and abolitionists
and um Martin Luther King. Martin Luther
King didn't die on the balcony. They let
him die at the hospital.
[Laughter]
All of this stuff is not black history.
None of this is black history. This is
American history because we are
Americans. I am American
and we built this and the
black American man, not the Haitian man,
not the Jamaican man,
not the African man. The black American
man was bought here by force against our
will and we built this country and we
still haven't got any reparations. We
still ain't got no get back.
And all all of this that everybody
enjoys
is the fruits of our labor.
All of it.
We um we crawl so everybody could walk.
We walk so everybody else could run
and
we looked down upon. We ain't [ __ ] But
oh yeah,
you you you got our line. You call us up
when when you need some entertainment.
Some good old football. Some good old
basketball.