An Ethiop Office Rant
I have avoided all interaction with the man down the hall in the past several years since I joined this east coast outfit. The dour self-righteous pre-Madonna’s world view revolves around stale and unsolicited sloganesque rants against Bush, American racism, and organized religion. With the exception of the occasional silly emoticon-filled group e-mails I get from him, our paths generally don't cross each other. The New Englander, like some white liberals I know, loves his causes but not necessarily the people he purportedly defends: talking to black and Latino male coworkers makes him break into a cold sweat. I overheard his conversation with someone in the hallway not too long ago. I could trace an edge to his nasal timbre. “ He doesn’t have the support of the real African-American community right ?” Shit. Obviously, Barack Obama. “ . . . and minorities (it came out “MNORDYS”) have so much to thank the Clintons, right ?” The woman he was talking to is an Af...