I have been working for almost 20 years. Three of those years were spent working abroad. During my career I have worked with or met individuals from many countries around the world. I have also worked with and met a lot of blacks. My associations with blacks normally transpired without incident. There have, however, been a few occasions where I was called a racist.
I will take one incident as an example. In the late 90s I worked for a cell phone network operator. I was employed in the credit vetting of new applicants. The system that we used for this was fully automated and completely secure. Employees like me would enter the prospective client’s information into the system, which would score the client’s credit profile according to a predetermined scorecard. Only management had the necessary access to alter the outcome of the process.
A black man applied for a cell phone contract. His credit profile did not meet the required criteria and his application was declined. He was upset and, lo and behold, called me a racist. This despite the fact that at no time during my dealings with him did I conduct myself in a racist manner or display myself to be in any way racist.
I suspect that the individuals in these incidents did not quite understand the concept of racism. In calling me a racist without any motivation whatsoever, other than the fact that I am white, they judged me purely on my skin colour.
In doing so they proved that in fact they, and not me, are the racists.
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