I had to find a job because I wasn't eligible for unemployment. Burley didn't pay any in, I'd quit my electrician job, and Homecrafts didn't pay any in.

Come to think of it, I quit Homecrafts, too.

I wasn't too old for the factories yet.

I got a job at a company that made industrial air-conditioners, which rode around on rails, overhead, sucking the lint out of the air, at mills, to protect the machinery (not the employees' lungs).

I was a press brake operator trainee, and I worked with the rails the air-conditioners rode on. These were 5" steel I-beams 21' long.

We'd put them through a sandblaster, to get the rust off, cut the ends at a diagonal, in a press brake, grind the burrs off the ends with a pneumatic drill, spot-weld brackets on them to hold cable harnesses, and send them to the paint shed for degreasing and painting.

Each of these tasks called for coordination, teamwork, a two-man team. A rhythm was established.

The men I worked with would drop their end a fraction soon, or late, causing me to lurch, or stagger. We worked ten-hour days, and it was rough-ass work, doing it right. Doing it wrong would beat you to death.

I was the only white guy on an all-black crew.

The crew members could all work fine with each other, but none of them could work with me.

Must have been me.

They were fucking with me, because I was white.

If you think I imagined that, my question is, have you ever been the only white person on an all-black crew?

If you have--I guarantee this, having talked to several other white people about it, including my wife, who had the same experience in an IT Help Center--you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Many white liberals have not had this experience. They will say it doesn't happen.

I'm not talking about explaining the reasons for it. I'm talking about denying the fact of its occurrence.

Why did I imagine it?

I am a racist.

I am so twisted up by prejudice and hate I can't see things clearly.

Could be.

If you say so.

Anyhow, after awhile, I got another job.

And they're still there.

Good luck to you, brothers. Solidarity!