I think in most cases, the desire to make money is the great equalizer. The problem is with entities run by government or nonprofit that simply do not focus on that. Outside of family, most folks (even racist) will simply hire/promote whomever will make them the most money. Sometimes this is situational. If you are selling in a predominantly minority area, a member of that minority might be more effective even if less skilled due to community ties, language, approachability, etc..

As far as accent, I personally was ridiculed for having a slight southern accent and speaking slowly when young (when working in other parts of the country). My vocabulary was also larger than most and I tended to use unusual words that were often laughed at. Southerners were always considered stupid because they spoke slowly and chose their words carefully. It almost always resulted in my being far underestimated and resulted in some crushing victories on my part over competitors. As noted, my accent was very mild (almost midwestern) and has lessened with age. In the end, speaking slowly and well has actually paid off for me. The ability to communicate well is a valuable skill in most lines of work.

The two go hand in hand. If it makes you feel better (it probably won't) you can consider it a regional dialect. It's like the difference between various speech patterns around the UK, but you can consider it also accents in different locations and social groups throughout the US. And it's got nothing to do with the color of anyone's skin.

There are groups in every region that speak various ways that have nothing to do with skin color. There may be groups that are predominantly based on skin color because folks are naturally more comfortable around other folks that share characteristics and values. But almost every group has folks in the group of various skin colors.

One of my squadron mates in my first squadron was from a small town in Texas. He was a LCDR at the time (I was an Ensign) and all the junior officers loved him because he was just as real and genuine as could be: UT Austin graduate, played Tuba in the Marching Band, married well, great kids, etc. He did have an accent, however.

We went through many simulator hops together. After one pre-simulator briefing, the instructor made a slight dig at Jim's accent. True to form, he just looked at the guy, stared him down.

The instructor, another LCDR, quickly left.

Jim looks at me and goes, "Paul, why is it when anyone wants to sound stupid they talk like me?"

What a human.

BTW, have a Mexican-appearing Mother in California in the 60's and you folks let me know how that works out for you.

If I was a school teacher teaching kids from various backgrounds in the USA, I would stress standard English like Sydney Poitier in "To Sir With Love" but also tell them that there is nothing wrong w slang as long as you know that you are speaking in slang. If it's the only way that you know how to speak, it will severely hold you back in life.

I don't think that accents are important, just the ability to speak and write standard English. I find regional accents interesting and charming if the person is well spoken. I believe that being fluent in your native tongue is among the biggest indicators of success in any business imaginable. And I include being a rap musician in that list.

Did I ever tell you my Nana's parents were Basque?

My dear old neighbor next to my parent's are Italians, wonderful couple, when they got much older. Joe came from Italy and his wife is from NYC. Both lived through the depression are now long gone. I remember Rena telling me that she has a new gardener. This was way back in the late 90s one day when one of my workmen and I were walking over lawn to my parent's home. My workman is Mexican American. Rena comes over, tells me about this gardener and said," Jeff, I have a new Gardener. He's a Mexican fellow. A good Mexican unlike all those bad ones":eek: I looked over at David, and smiled. David was a young men then and said later about that's how they are. I try to tell him that its a generational thing.

When I first moved into my neighborhood, I was 29. One of the youngest person who bought the heavy fixer on the block. The black dude and his wife a couple houses from me (he's an editor for the show CSI) was the only guy that came by to introduce themselves and he said to watch the old man across the way. days later, my old, bitter neighbor said to me, "Who are you, what are you doing to that house? Do you live here? Do you know what you are doing?" After I introduce myself as the new owner, he started with "You people move up here, think you can do what you want to the home. We aren't going to accept that." I finally had enough and told him that I was painting it deep purple, adding a lookout at the ridge on the roof. Another old guy a couple houses up told me as he walked by about how he isn't too keen in a purple house. I am not sure what's worst, them or the ultra left, know it all, younger crowd we have now.

I have a ton more stories that will take pages.

We moved from Pearl City, Hawaii to Montgomery, AL when I was in grade school. First day of school the teacher gave us a pop spelling test. She said the word, and we had to spell in. I made a ZERO, not one word spelled right. I could not understand her very think southern accent. I remember one word was quarter. She pronounced at ka-wat-a and I had no idea what that was but that is how I spelled it. Another word was library, she pronounced it li-barry.

My parents were called in for a parent-teacher conference, and the teacher was afraid I was mentally challenged. My dad figured it out fast, he said ma'am I cannot understand 1/2 of what you are saying as you are speaking with such an thick southern accent that is is like a foreign language. My parents got me moved to a different teacher that could speak clearly. She had a slight accent, but it was understandable.

You did not. But it shows!

When I recruited officers in GA and ran the region's AF JROTC units, I set records in recruiting and somewhat solved some of our race-related problems in high schools schools from Selma to inner-city Atlanta...as well as greatly expanding rural high school presence. Apparently I was the first officer ever sent there that spoke everyone's language (from the south). The first rural school, I visited, they brought me a basket of collard greens...and were pretty pleased that I knew what they were. A first. Most of the inner city and rural teachers were from elsewhere and neither they nor the students understood what each other was saying. I translated for both. What was really funny was talking to foreign language teachers from the deep south in German, French or Spanish (which I was tolerably fluent in at one time). Their accents made it impossible to understand in the languages they taught. I had to wonder just how many students went overseas and found out their language skills were not quite what they expected.

Hey Gringo!

Hey, Paleface!

I may not look it but both my wife and I have Native American bloodlines as well.

So, you're not ok with limiting the number of Asians admitted so whites will have a better chance????

Got some Blackfoot on my dad's side. My mom's father liked to say they got kicked out of every country before they came to America.

I grew up speaking English, Dutch and Spanish. Can understand a little Italian as well.

If you are talking about American citizens (and colleges)...no.

If you are talking about immigration, I would limit everyone. I would go back to almost zero as it was for much of the early early of this century. That is why assimilation worked so much better then. We reduced entry and gave the folks already here decades/generations to assimilate. We have no shortage of people...and we do not have so much money that we can support the rest of the world (we have a massive national debt). We should only allow people to immigrate that can fill a need for a specific skill.

How did this go from Asian beat downs to let me brag about everything I ever did thread?

This is the crucial part. We need educated people who are working and earning money. Their collective earning power is what makes an economy work. Our big ass problem is that now the Boomers are in the twilight of their working years, how are we going to support them when there are more non-earners than working earners? We need immigrants, but the kind who contribute to the economy, rather than the other way around. If we take too many immigrants who plan to simply game the system, then we're going to destroy our economy and just implode under the weight of all of this glorious charity that some people think 'government' is.

college admissions

IIRC, Berkeley limited the number of Asians admitted so whites would have a better chance

When you stopped whining about the previous President and trying to send this to PARF, OT erupted and reasonable people found that they shared more in common than not.

Good thing the thread police came back to get us back on track and starting bashing each other.

I'm really loving these family stories, guys!!

Yes. Current policy is like running a company and hiring massive number of employees without considering company needs, skills required, etc...then paying the until you find something they can do that they want to do. It may never happen, but you plan to pay them anyways. The folks already working there can share their salary/homes.

As far as citizens are concerned...give me a colorblind meritocracy...at least as much as possible..as we all are born with different circumstances (abilities, parents, etc.). I am happy to compete. It makes us all better.