The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

When my son Robert was in high school, he attended a construction career school. During his attendance at the construction school, he decided he wanted his college major to be Project Construct Manager. Two summers ago, Robert was given the opportunity to work (with pay) with a construction company called “Clayco” for the entire summer. From the very first day of work, Robert experienced all types of   discrimination. In Saint Louis Mo., discrimination against African American construction workers is expected. Robert and another intern (white) were treated differently. Robert was made to work with the laborers, excluded from meetings, and special luncheons. The white intern was taught all he needed to know about being a “Project Construct Manager”.  One day, while on the construction site, Robert noticed an important pipe sticking up out of the ground. He brought it to the managers’ attention, and the manager had to contact the gas, and water companies. Robert was handed a shovel, and asked to go down in the hole and dig. All of the white construction workers, and the white intern watched Robert dig and they found it comical. While Robert worked in the hole, the gentleman (Africa American Project Construct manager) who referred Robert for the job was driving past the site. When he saw Robert in the hole digging, he became furious. He pulled up to the site and began to ask questions.  He told the manager that he sent Robert to be trained as a Project manager, not a laborer. Robert kept all of the discrimination he encountered throughout the summer from me. As a mother I was angry, and I wanted to march down to that site, and give the workers a piece of my mind, but I had to allow Robert (as a young man) to handle the issue himself (It was hard!!!!). When he (Robert) finally shared his experience with me, this big strong man burst out crying. He had never faced anything like this, and because I did not have many negative experiences with other races, I did not warn him against such possibilities.