There was this moment on DU about 8 years that removed all my beliefs that liberals were not racist

[zalinda]

34. I am only an authority on what I have experienced as a woman.

I have faced sexism for over 50 years and for the last 15 years both sexism and ageism.

In the late 60's I worked in a fruit juice plant. I was one of three white people who worked in that building. The cafeteria was in another building where the office workers worked. You had to buy meal tickets from the receptionist. The reason? The cafeteria workers were black. I don't remember any other black employee in that cafeteria, although I pretty much kept my head down. The people in the fruit juice plant? The men ate their lunch outside, even in the below zero weather. The women ate in the coat room which was joined to the ladies restroom by a larger than average door. After my first encounter with the cafeteria, I ate in the coat room with the other women.

I don't think I ever had a conversation with my boss after he hired me. I just saw him through a glass wall. The plant supervisor was a racist, although I'm sure he didn't think of himself as one. He would stop by and talk to me all the time. The guy who really ran the plant was this older black guy. If he didn't show up, I think that the plant would have shut down. He ran the machinery. He knew exactly how much sugar to add to the fruit and when it was just ready to can. We talked all the time. He had worked there for 25 years, and yet I was making a dollar more an hour as a new hire than he had been making after 25 years. It was depressing as hell working there and I didn't last long, as the women in the coat room told me. They said I was too kind hearted, that I wouldn't last long, they were right.

That was blatant racism, and it was okay with most of them, even those who were oppressed, because at least they had a job.

I could tell you about the jobs I didn't get because I was a woman, or the unequal pay or even the weird rule that men could smoke at their desks, but women couldn't. And yes, women had to wear skirts, even up to 15 years ago at some companies. How I couldn't get a credit card, because I was a woman. And, I'm fat. Do you know how cruel people can be to fat people? They may hide other isms, but not fatism. They will go right up to you and tell you that you are fat and to go on a diet.

How, even now, I'm targeted as an easy mark for auto service, actually for any service. After all, don't you know, all old people have tons of money to spare.

When I see if I can help a situation, I help. I helped a young man who had learning problems, figure out how to put the money in for a new style of paid shopping carts. His mother thanked me and I thought who could be nasty to a sweet kid like this. When we talk about isms, there are all kinds of isms around. I observe people and what they do and say. I try to make the day better for others when I can.

All I'm saying is pick your fights. If you don't, you will exhaust yourself. It's taken me a long time to come to terms with myself. I did not get the genetic lottery, but I'm still worthy of respect.

Z