The job is not what you would expect.
I was always fascinated by movement and infrastructure—highways, waterways, sewers, railroads, etc.—and I was lucky enough to get a job with my local transit authority. I live in a big liberal city with a Democrat Mayor.
I am one of only a few white employees. I would say the workforce is 80 percent black and 10 percent Asian, with a sprinkling of whites and very few Hispanics. My system verified immigration status, so there are no illegals. Whites are so rare that a white woman once came up to me and said, “Wow, a white man working for the system.”
Most whites I know believe there is a kind of black conspiracy to keep people of other races out, and that any whites who actually work for the system face constant abuse. I can assure you that is not the case in this system. I have a great working relationship with co-workers and management. My race is not a factor, though we often joke about it.
For example, when a black lady passenger addressed me “n**gah,” I later asked a black co-worker if that meant my “street cred” had risen. “It sure did!” he said.
Blacks are very color conscious. They often use skin tone to distinguish between people with the same last name, as in “dark-skinned Johnson, with the dreads” or “light-skinned Jackson with the beard.” One co-worker said I was “Light- light- light-skinned,” which she meant as a compliment. ...
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