"If I were black, I'd be a millionaire" moments

[Gator Dad]

The purpose of this thread is to take a look at black privilege from a different angle by looking at "micro-aggressions" (minor annoying moments) that we've all experienced in our daily lives and examining how those micro-aggressions that are just molehills in a White man's life would be turned into mountains if the subject was black.

For example, recently I was shopping at Costco, where my wife and I have a joint account, along with a joint Costco credit card. Since my wife usually does the shopping, the card is in her name. When I got to the checkout and was paying, the cashier asked to see the credit card, saw the female name on it, and said, "Is this your card?" I said it was my wife's and I was an authorized user. The cashier gave me a bit of a suspicious look and said that I could only use a card with my name on it. While according to store policy that's actually not true, I saw no point in getting into an argument and just used one of my credit cards. Annoying, but not a big deal. Just one of those things that are part of life for everyone that we White men typically take in stride.

Now imagine if I was black and the same thing had happened. It would have been "why yoose accusin' me of bein' a thief? Dat be raciss!" followed by "dis a lawsoo." If it had been an "edumahcated" black with a suit and Malcolm X glasses, it would have been even worse, a long speech on "the legacy of slavery" and such. A call would have been made to the ACLU or one of the other alphabet soup agitator organizations, who would have provided a high-powered attorney for free, a "law-soo" would have been filed, and Costco would have quickly paid out a settlement to avoid potential negative publicity.

What are some small annoyances/molehills from your lives that would have been turned into mountains and settlement payouts if you were black?

 

[HaywoodZarathustra]

One post office I go to has pinpad machines that don't accept my credit cards. Don't know why. They work everywhere else. I think the things just need repairing. It's a pain in the ass, but I just go somewhere else. Those folks you mention would probably pull the media and several attorneys if it happened to them.

The title of this thread made me think of that passage out of John Kennedy Toole's "Confederacy of Dunces." Lol............."Perhaps I should have been a Negro. I suspect that I would have been a rather large and terrifying one, continually pressing my ample thigh against the withered thighs of old white ladies in public conveyances a great deal and eliciting more than one shriek of panic."

 

[jphoss]

One that instantly popped to mind is traffic I’m sure everyone here hates traffic but when you see that car driving on the shoulder or speeding across lanes like a maniac or treating you passing them as a personal insult you know it’s a black driving.

 

[icsept]

As a lawyer, I periodically get calls from black clients who have been terminated from their jobs. They always assume it was due to racial discrimination, and want to know if they can sue. There‘s never any evidence, but of course no employer would document that sort of motivation if it was true. I usually opine as to whether that company has ever fired a White employee. The answer is always yes, but of course they were just bad employees. Well, call me back if you uncover some evidence or smoking gun that your company is firing good employees just because they’re black. I never get that call back.