No, it wasn't police employment. This was back in the early nineties when I was recently discharged from the military, and looking for any civil service job I could get my hands on; a foot in the door so to speak. I had a temp job with the building maintenance division, so I started applying for any job available to city employees only. The job in question was for "public works inspector 3", a newly formed position that was to be a sort of "apprenticeship" to prepare the employee to pass the public works 2 exam within a couple of years. Since I was filling out so many apps at the time, and quite bitter about affirmative action, and the fact that they would even have the gaul to ASK what color I was, I put down that I was "native american". My young rationalization was that I was BORN here, that makes me NATIVE; go ahead and TRY to call me a liar. Long story short: I get a call back for interview, interview goes EXTREMELY well ( my late grandfather was once my two interviewer's supervisor and they both thought very highly of him ), interviewers go on to explain to me the reason for the new position of PWI 3 is to make room for two MINORITY applicants because historically minority applicants could not pass the exam. This possed some sort of problem with the city's AA department, hence the creation of a job position for minorities only, whitey need not apply. Me? I am as white as the driven snow, light brown hair, blue eyes. Since the interviewers are not privy to the AA questionaires that accompany the applications they were a bit perplexed by the cracker seated before them. I asked them point blank at that juncture," So what you are telling me is that no matter how qualified or deserving you may think I am, I stand absolutely no chance of being hired because of my ancestry?". This, as you may well imagine, created quite a bit of discomfort with them ( can anyone say " potential law suit? ), so they humm hawed around about me being a war vet and the probability that THAT was the reason I was there. Answer your question? Hey, lest anyone read this and get the impression that I am still dwelling on it ( not that anyones take on my inner state really matters to me ), please see my above post. Sure, I have a vile distaste for AA as it is currently being implemented, and yes I feel as though I got burned for no other reason than being a white dude. When I retell this story as it might happen to come up ( such as this site ) I DO end up back in the moment and get a little passionate about it. But I stand by my previous statement that basically says " Live in the past, continue to fail ". I won't, you shouldn't, and put your efforts into what is possible instead of on seeing the impossible. So what if they will only be hiring one white guy out of ten hundred ( hypothetically ) positions filled? I will put my focus on being the one. Until the day comes that they declare being white a crime, i'll keep trying. Sorry Blackjack about the soap box, i'll try to keep other posts shorter and less preachier.
|