Not silent about things that matter

by Alex Flynn/POOR Magazine Poverty Studies Intern

As a white woman, I haven’t experienced racism directly, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen how painful it is. My grandparents adopted my uncle, who Aboriginal (known as "Native American" in the United States), after my mom and her four sisters and brothers were already grown. The age difference between Uncle Alistair and me is only ten years, so he felt more like a brother than anything else. In Canada, there is a lot of discrimination against Aboriginal Peoples, and Uncle Alistair didn’t escape it by growing up in a white family.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." On the anniversary of his death, Anita Labossiere, her supporters, and a number of community activities protested in front of City Hall. Anita, an African American woman, has worked at the Hunter’s Point/Bay View S.E. Pollution Control Plant for over 23 years and, during most of that period, has experienced racial harassment. Even after finding the word "nigger" on her car, and being passed up for promotion after promotion, she tried to work with her manager to fix the situation. Nothing worked and she ultimately took a stress leave. But the penalties continued when she was told she couldn’t return to work, first because she was declared "violent" and, then, because she was told she had a "twitch." These claims arose after she had gone public about her experiences.

I saw people discriminate against Uncle Alistair all the time. One time, when we were driving him back to my grandparents’ place we stopped at a gas station to use the washroom. My mom, sister and I went to the women’s room and Uncle Alistair went to the men’s. When we met back at the car, Alistair looked devastated: the clerk had refused to let him in, saying he was just a "stinking Indian." My mom tongue-lashed the clerk and reported his conduct, but it certainly wasn’t the last time that Uncle Alistair was discriminated against.

Discrimination of Native Canadians isn’t limited to my uncle. Similarly, Anita hasn’t been the only African American city worker who experienced racism at a city public utility. Carmi Johnson found a hanging noose in her workplace and was harassed out of her job (she has documented her story in her book published by POOR Press, "Wasted Waters"). Leticia Brown was harassed and followed. When Kevin Williams spoke out against the racism he experienced, he was fired. The City’s Human Rights Commission couldn’t escape politics when they were asked to look into a hanging noose incident at the San Francisco International Airport: their report was ultimately discredited.

Not only do every day people discriminate against Aboriginal Peoples, so do police officers and government officials. In 1995, an officer with the Ontario Provincial Police shot and killed an unarmed Aboriginal protestor named Dudley George. The Canadian government refused to look into the matter saying that it was not in their jurisdiction. Eight years of lobbying by activists of organizations like the Amnesty International and the United Nations have finally resulted in the Ontario government calling an inquiry. The delays and complacency by governments in this case feel very personal; they suggest that people like my uncle aren’t as deserving of justice.

I really hope that the Ontario government will do an ethical job of looking in to the matter. In San Francisco, it’s a leap of faith to expect that City Hall will be much help. The problems with the Human Rights Commission were allegedly due to interference by the Mayor’s Office. And, even though racist incidents have been brought to the City’s attention for years, City Administrator Bill Lee said that the matter is "in review" by the administration and suggested that "these people" (the demonstrators) write letters directly to Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The years of stagnancy makes it even more amazing that people are still willing to raise their voices. Marie Harrison lives in Bayview/Hunter’s Point where she works for a non-profit environmental agency. She says that this kind of racism happens again and again. As she puts it, "How can a nation as strong and powerful as the US stand still for hangman’s nooses to be hung in our workplaces?" Working with management, bring complaints, and going to court so far hasn’t succeeded in leading to change and, so, she comes out to every demonstration hoping that big numbers will make a difference.

It is hard for me to understand how, in this day and age, racism still happens. Perhaps, as suggested by member of Stationary Engineers Local 89 and organizer of the demonstration, Steve Zelzner, the racism of San Francisco city workers is connected to something else. He believes that the racial harassment cannot be disassociated from the privatization of public utilities. The goal, he says, is to get rid of long-term city workers and good union paying jobs, ultimately giving them to private contractors.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." My grandparents had the same dream for all of their children, including Uncle Alistair. Anita, Carmi, Leticia, Kevin, and every other city worker should not have to endure racist attacks because of their skin color.

The Poverty Studies internship is one of the training programs offerred at POOR Magazine which trains people with race and/ or class priviledge how to write about issues of poverty and racism from the position of the empath rather than the "other". For more poverty scholarship and empathic journalism on issues of poverty and racism go on-line to www.poormagazine.org

See Anita’s story at: http://www.sfbayview.com/082003/workingforthecity082003.shtml.

See a 2001 article on the issue at: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/16/MNL120088.DTL

See an article about the SFO/Human Rights Commission incident at: http://www.sfbg.com/News/35/44/44sfo.html