August 4, 2006
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Push me, pull me
Joy and I stopped by the jobsite to drop something off, on our way to run some errand. As I got out of the van, one of the fellas in the white apartments across the street called out "Hey man, you done buildin' your mansion yet?"
A loaded question, but loaded with what? Folks tease me sometimes about the house... "Coming along bit by bit," I called back. When in doubt be polite and vague.
He shouted back, neither polite nor vague. Fortunately, Joy kept up her own happy burble the whole time, and remained oblivious to Daddy's "conversation" with the man across the street.
The Digest:
"You're racist, you never hire black folks to work on your house."
-- what about the subcontractor who was here two days ago? (who was darker skinned than this fellow yelling at me... which makes no difference to most white people, but it does to blacks, for some reason)
"You don't hire black folks from THIS neighborhood!" / "not from THESE apartments!"
-- silence: that's true, but general contractors don't just show up at a jobsite, look around, and call to whoever happens to be standing around and hire them. There are licenses, certified training, contacts, bids... in fact, Bob has been relentlessly trimming down his workforce because of skyrocketing workman's comp rates & other reasons of expense. He rehires them as subcontractors job by job, so he saves money and they make more money. In this way Bob tries to be loyal to those who have served him well for years but whom he's forced into freelancing (or salaried jobs with other companies). Can Bob be expected to risk hiring local strangers when old friends need that work too? Would this guy treat his homies the same way he expects Bob to treat Bob's trusted associates?But that isn't what this guy needs to hear. His subtext is clear: "I NEED A JOB. IT PISSES ME OFF, WATCHING YOUR GUYS WORK WHILE I NEED A JOB."
Errand done, man in full rant (with a buddy next to him alternately laughing at him and telling him to shut up), I bundle Joy into the van and drive slowly away. Sure, he's wrong about me and about the moral imperative of hiring him. But I still wish I could help him. Becoming part of the neighborhood means making my neighbors' concerns my concerns too.
And, this morning there's a "For Sale" sign in our front yard. Did I mention the clause in our lease that says the landlord can evict us at any time as a condition of sale of the property? Being evicted from the neighborhood won't help me become part of it.
Hmmm.
