The issue isn’t with Europeans.

The issue is within The Mindset.

I’ve been discriminated against on job interviews from what we call, People of Color.

One incident was even after I was hired! The Persian woman I worked for at Silver Textiles in LA, said they had to “let me go” because she thought that I would not grasp how to do things there. This was something that clearly existed only in her mind and her perception of me. Whether her perception was based on me being a Black Woman or an Introvert or the very likely combination of the two which somehow rendered me inferior to keep the position. I knew that her statement was coming from a biased place and I challenged her by repeating what she had just told me so that she could hear herself and how stupid she sounded. I repeated, “You are letting me go because you think that I will not be able to grasp the computer programs you use.” Like you are not even going to train me. Like this isn’t even a fact because I was not even given the chance to complete the job because I never started on the work that she thought I couldn’t handle! What preconceived notions existed in her mind to make her believe such a thing?! I’ve never received a complaint from her while I was there but suddenly her thoughts are now an issue. You got that last part? HER THOUGHTS ABOUT ME WAS THE ISSUE!!! I did nothing to her, I had not damaged her company! I did no wrong!

Another incident was from an Asian woman that I interviewed with at Claire’s Corporate Headquarters. She told me that I need to be fast-paced. She looked at my portfolio and told me that I would have to work faster. THIS WAS AN INTERVIEW! I was not even working there, all I did was sit down in the chair and explain my experience! How could she just look at my work an determine that I worked to slow?!!! She had never seen me work or my work pace. She only just met me for about 3 minutes! See? There it is again. Something that existed in her mind about me before I even walked through the door. Now who is me? I was just a category in her eyes. Something to be judged, not perceived or learned. She didn’t take the time to get to know me. To interview me. She sat there and judged me, from previous dialogue within herself about people who look like me. She even implied that I would be slow at working because I am from the Mid-West. She said, “this company runs like New York, we aren’t a slow pace Midwestern company.” I told her that I worked in a fast pace environment before when I interned at White House Black Market in Florida. She then actually let these words come out of her mouth, “You don’t know how fast-paced, it is you don’t know!” Mind you her tone was off when she was saying all of this to me. Nearly shouting and talking AT me and not to me. [At this point I just think she had a slight mental illness, although discrimination is a mental illness.]

So as you can see,

it is a mindset.

A dis>ease of the mind.

The mind is not at ease.

It is filled with uneasiness about people they don’t know.

I kind of fear. A distrust.

A damaging interaction.

A distraction,

from all things that really matter.

Now does All lives matter?

Not if you treat me this way, by ignoring my pleas, my cries for help.

What about my well-being? Does my life TRULY matter to you?

You don’t care whether I live or die?

Have a home or homeless.

Sick or healthy.

Rich or unwealthy.

What about my well-being?

This is more than just a job.

in this society.

The people I would pay rent to have no compassion.

That’s why homelessness exist.

How am I suppose to live?

L I V E my L I F E.

Not just be alive, hope not to get shot by police.

But actually L I V E my day-to-day life?

M y   D a y   t o   D a y    L i f e .

 

 

Negativity on Social Media

This is an image that I spotted while looking up images of Ethiopia and it’s people.

Negative Perceptions of Africa

I even spotted this image on a tee shirt!

After reading the book Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization (Exploding the Myths) VOL.1. I wanted to find images of Ethiopians, who are the ancestors of those who were formally in Egypt. While looking up images I spotted this picture. This struck me negatively because of my recent endeavor to understand myself and who I am better.

First, last week I saw several images that a group of students created to counteract the negative misconceptions about Africa. Then this week I began reading Exploding the Myths VOL.1 which I posted on how many associations about Africa and it’s people are still negative. So of course when I go to look up images of Africa and I am bombarded with this I had to make a post! This is in fact the reason why I created this blog. I needed an outlet to express the passion that I feel about this kind of information.

This image insults an entire nation of people, billions of people who reside here! This is terrible! Imagine this being illustrated as the United States map. All of those things exist here in the states but it does not define its entire condition and the people who live there!

This is exactly what hurts us all, when we do not think clearly, completely, and justly.

Something has got to change…

Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization (Exploding the Myths) Vol. 1

I just finished reading Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization (Exploding the Myths) VOL.1.  This book was published in 1992; I was 3 years old at the time, I am now 25 and I had the great opportunity to learn information that has not been formally introduced to me in my years of scholastic studies.

This book explores how the Nile Valley Civilization of Egypt greatly influenced Western Civilization.  For me, more importantly, it presents this information in an accurate, factual, and truthful light. How? It speaks of the Nile Valleys original African origins before becoming colonized by other nations.

Because of the current inhabitants of Egypt, many still believe the Egyptians to be white. It is so important for this misconception to be corrected because of the constant and negative notions about Africa and it’s people. It has become far to common for people to believe that the dark-skinned people of that continent are incapable of anything important or respectable in society. It is hurtful in numerous ways to individuals, communities, societies expanding across countries to other continents thus negatively affecting our entire world. We can see this here today, after thousands of years of mistreatment and oppression, the effects of the mentality of that time is still lingering. It is lingering in the minds of the individuals who go to social media to post comments of their negative, prejudice associations of black people. If you go to Twitter and type in certain hashtags or key words you are sure to find some kind of put-down to black people.

I have experienced this myself when using the hashtag Black Girls Rock and finding the suggested hashtag Black Girls Stop. This hashtag was used by individuals to showcase negative images and perceptions of black women. I just wanted to put a positive and empowering message out there and immediately I was met with the negativity that I try to escape.

Although this book was written quite recently there has been other books and research available in the past thousands of years that support the African origins of Egypt. So this information is not new, it has just been either hidden or altered. Hopefully, with this knowledge of how information is distorted, we can all begin to think and live our lives with a clearer mind. With this, maybe we can form a civilization that isn’t built on the oppression and hardships of a people.