Suent Scientific invited Dr. Harris Sussman
to speak on "The White Male Minority."
Old Folks went to hear him
speak, but a couple of head-slinging, peak-testosterone black females attended the
presentation and lectured him on the unmet needs of the black female, like Republicans
calling in to C-SPAN.
They wouldn't shut up.
Dr. Sussman couldn't
give his speech.
What those two particular black females needed was a good
swift kick in the steatopygic ass. A class in manners, and respect for other people's
voices. Tolerance, patience, and forbearance.
They had that sour, Condi Rice
expression. They looked like Digger the Dermatophyte, in the ads for toenail fungus
medication.
You know the expression. The one that makes foreign leaders want
to slap the shit out of the Secretary of State.
The one white people used
to call uppity, and black mothers warn their black daughters against enjoying. That
scowl is more dangerous than reckless eyeballing.
Old Folks bought a collection
of Sussman's articles from Managing Diversity, How Diversity Works, and read
it.
He was sorry he didn't get to hear him give the lecture Lucent paid him
to come and give.
He was interested in pluralistic work environments, respect
for different cultural traditions than our own, how to get along when you're outnumbered
and still maintain your sense of individuality and self-respect. How to make people
who disagree with you feel comfortable and unthreatened by your difference.