I remember when I landed a gig in college. On my first day at work, the boss placed a stopwatch over my neck and set it for 30 minutes when I took my lunch break. I was 21 and it both humiliated and radicalized me. #NationalBossDay
The incident deepened my understanding of the cross section between racism and capitalism. There was something perfect and tragic about this white lady placing a rope around my neck in the name of productivity, profit.
I'll never forget how she didn't say a word as she did it, how she didn't make eye contact after it was done. She just expected me to know my place. If I were the person I am now, I would have taken lunch and never returned. But I needed to pay rent and had no financial security.
Did I mention that this was the same summer that Hurricane Katrina was raging? It was early September 2005 at a Seattle area music festival that has since developed a very poor reputation for mistreating Black musicians in this city. I guess that would have made me 20, not 21.
Moral of the story: Organize Your Workplace. I didn't yet get the meaning of solidarity. If I had, I would've seen if my coworkers were also being insulted like this, then seen what we could do about it. The stopwatch is around everybody's neck...how long is the timer set for?
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