Discrimination In A Form You May Not Recognize

Written By:  Andrew Eide

People wear masks for different reasons but the main reason is to either pretend they are someone else or to hide who they really are. Discrimination isn’t always plainly visible in front of your eyes. I’m going to present two cases of discrimination where their intent to infer racism was masked.

The first one involves the Osmond Brothers and the Jackson 5 who were both youth rock groups. Nearly every Black person I’ve worked with said the same thing. Their comment was that the Osmond Brothers are copying the Jackson 5 since the Jackson 5 was performing before the Osmonds were. So let’s take a trip down memory lane and see what the truth is shall we?

The Osmonds began performing in 1958 while the Jacksons began performing in 1964. The way I was taught Math in school that comes out to the Osmonds performing for 6 years before the Jacksons did. So if you look at those facts one could turn it around and claim that having a singing group consisting of brothers was started by the Osmonds and copied by the Jacksons.

The second incident involves what is commonly called a Talk Box along with various other names. It is used to transfer your voice to your music so that when you talk or sing your voice sounds like the music. The two most famous uses of this technology were Peter Frampton on his Frampton Comes Alive album and by Stevie Wonder.

So where does the masked racism come into play here? Most Blacks I’ve worked with said the same thing. They said that Stevie Wonder invented the Talk Box and he was the first one to use it for a musical performance. Once again let us take a walk down memory lane and see what the truth is.

The technology for the Talk Box was invented and manufactured in 1939 by Alvino Rey. This was 11 years before Stevie Wonder was born. Alvino Rey had his wife, Rosie King, who was one of the King Sisters musical act, stand behind a curtain while he was on stage with his guitar. As he played the guitar his wife, Rosie, spoke the words and it sounded like Alvino’s guitar was talking.

When I mentioned this to the people who tried to state that Stevie Wonder invented the Talk Box they then changed their tune quickly to try to sound like what they really meant was that Stevie Wonder was the first to make it popular. Again a false claim as the Talk Box was in continuous use from 1939 mostly in the Country Music industry.

Rest assured that people mask their racism in every possible way they can. Instead of being up front and honest about how they feel they have to put on a mask and pretend they are not who they are. When confronted with stuff like this please feel free to reach out, rip off their mask, and call them out for being the racist they really are.

I Was Discriminated Against For Being From California

Written By:  Andrew Eide

As most of you know I am a native Californian. I was born in Oakland, California and I lived in Oakland from birth until I graduated from Skyline High School in February 1972 at the age of 18 years and 4 months.

I served in the United States Navy from March 1972 to March 1980. I reenlisted and served 6 more years from March 1983 to March 1989. Then in April 1990 I decided to reenlisted for the last time for a 6 year period to finish out my 20 years in the United States Navy so I could retire and receive a Military Retirement income for the rest of my life.

During my time in the Navy I did three years serving in Washington DC on the Staff of both the Chief of Naval Personnel and the Chief of Naval Operations. When I returned to Active Duty in April 1990 I served all my remaining time in the United States Navy in San Diego, California, where I retired.

During my tours of duty on the East Coast I was constantly discriminated against for being from California. I heard the most vile, evil, and disgusting things said about my home State, the people who live there, and the general lifestyle.

In one instance while living in the State of Connecticut my immediate supervisor was totally disrespecting the State of California so I asked him straight up if he has ever been to California. His response shocked me. He said he has never been outside of the New England States which consists of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut.

So I told him that I’ve lived in California, Florida, Virginia, and now in Connecticut, and I’ve been in several other States and many other countries. I asked him how he could denounce another State and the people who live there when he has never been there and has no clue what he’s talking about. He had no answer and he never gave me crap again.

So in addition to being discriminated against for being White, Male, and Older, I’ve also been discriminated against for being from California.

Becx Was Discriminated Against by Jerry in Roswell

Written By:  Andrew Eide

After being discriminated against by Vietnamese Asians at Lunex Telecom, and being discriminated against by the Georgia Department of Labor, Becx located a job in Roswell, Georgia.

Since we had only one car at the time I told Becx to please not take a job that far away from Duluth, Georgia, as the travel time would be at least one hour each way and the pay was one-third less than she made at Lunex so we lose out getting less income with more expenses.

Becx was stubborn and she accepted the job offer from the owner of the company named Jerry. Becx was hired to be a Customer Support Tech and IT Support. That was what she was told her job was.

Immediately the two Account Representatives, both women, became jealous of Becx and they backstabbed her at every opportunity. The added problem, which was a problem we had with our family, was that we had to drop Keira off at Pre-K at 8 a.m. and then try to make it to Roswell for the job working for Jerry before 9 a.m.  We had to do this as I had to pick Keira up at Pre-K at 3 p.m. and then we drove to Roswell at 5 p.m. to pick Becx up at work.

Since the route we had to take to get from Duluth to Roswell was to take Pleasant Hill Road, which changed names to State Bridge Road, and then changed names again to Old Milton Parkway, and then we had to get on Highway 400 for about 5 to 7 miles, exit in Roswell, then drive about 4 or 5 miles more to get to Jerry’s office, we often arrived at Jerry’s office after 9 a.m. and Jerry was upset at Becx for always being late. She tried to explain the situation to Jerry but he didn’t care to understand.

The next problem is that there was a phone on a desk between Becx and the Account Representative in the office they shared. The phone would ring off the hook all day long. Becx wondered why nobody was answering the phone and she was told by the Account Representative to just let it go to voice mail and someone will check it later and answer the questions on the voice mail.

About 4 weeks into her work for Jerry she was asked by Jerry why she was not answering the phone that rings all day long. Becx told Jerry that the Account Representative told her not to answer the phone and to let it go to voice mail. Jerry told Becx that she should have known that part of her job was to answer that phone since it was Franchise owners calling with issues that need to be resolved and resolving the issues was her job. She explained to Jerry that she was not trained to answer the phones. When Jerry asked the Account Representative who trained Becx she lied and told Jerry that she did, in fact, tell Becx to answer the phones and resolve the issues.

So Becx started to answer the phones and resolve issues. After resolving numerous issues the Account Representative in the office with her would demand to know why Becx resolved an issue when she already took care of the issue. Becx replied that if she doesn’t tell her that she was resolving a certain issue then Becx would have no way of knowing she was doing something that was already done. Then you had times when Becx resolved an issue and a day or two later the Account Representative tried to resolve the same issue and she bitched Becx out. Becx told her that only one person, her, should be resolving issues so that everything runs smoothly and there are no duplication of efforts.

About two weeks later Jerry called Becx into his office and he went off on her. I am paraphrasing what Jerry said to Becx as follows:  Jerry bitched Becx out stating she should take an English class because she cannot speak English very well. Becx reminded Jerry, as she did with the Vietnamese at Lunex Telecom, that in the Philippines you are taught in English from 1^st grade to college graduation and in every business environment you are required to speak English even though you deal only with Filipinos.

Jerry then insulted Bcex further by stating that he felt she lied on her Resume and that he doesn’t believe all her work experience dealing with finances, Point-of-Sale systems, Computer IT Support, etc. Becx looked Jerry in the eyes and told him that everything on her Resume was the truth and he is welcome to contact anyone she has worked for to prove her right.

Jerry then basically spit in Becx’s face verbally with a few more insults and he walked out of the room.

When I picked Becx up that evening she cried all the way home. We had a discussion and I told her in the morning we are driving to Jerry’s office and she will tell him what an insulting stupid jerk he is, she will return the laptop computer Jerry provided for her to do work for his business, and she will gather all her personal belongings and she will quit. I told Becx I will not go into the office with her as I might get violent and kick Jerry’s ass so I sent her in alone.

Becx was in the building for about 20 minutes and she came back to the car minus the company’s laptop. On the way home she told me what took place during those 20 minutes.

Jerry jumped in her face when she got into the office. Becx said she didn’t say a word but walked into her office and got her personal belongings. When she came out of her office Jerry demanded to know what was going on and Becx told him that she quits as she will not tolerate discrimination, insults, and harassment in the work place.

Jerry looked at her and told her she was a jerk for quitting. Becx said she told Jerry, HOW DARE YOU! YOU ARE THE JERK JERRY! YOU ARE THE ONE HARASSING ME, THREATENING ME, AND DISCRIMINATING AGAINST ME. HERE IS YOUR LAPTOP COMPUTER! I QUIT!

Well that was the end of working for Jerry. I can only hope that his company will fail big time as he should not have treated Becx, an intelligent, smart, productive, woman, as he did.

Becx Denied Unemployment Compensation from the State of Georgia

Written By:  Andrew Eide

When Becx quit working for Lunex Telecom in September 2012 upon the direction of our family doctor Becx was seriously looking for a job. It wasn’t easy finding a job quickly so for two months from September to November Becx was without work. This caused major stress for our family as Becx was making over $35,000 per year with Lunex and now we were back to having only my Military Retirement Check.

We went to the Georgia Department of Labor office in Norcross, Georgia, for Becx to apply for Unemployment Compensation. The office dragged their feet and stalled for several weeks. Then they told Becx she had to go back to the U.S. Department of Immigration to get an extension on her Immigrant Visa. After we did all of that they denied Unemployment Compensation for Becx.

When we asked why they disapproved her claim they said if you “voluntarily” quit your job you are not entitled to Unemployment Compensation. We countered with the fact that she was being discriminated against and the stress was so high that our family doctor gave the medical diagnosis that leaving the job would improve the health of Becx. Even with that explanation the Georgia Department of Labor refused to give Unemployment Compensation to Becx.

I believe the Georgia Department of Labor discriminated against Becx for being an Immigrant from the Philippines. I can assure you that they were handing out Unemployment Compensation to Hispanic Immigrants who didn’t have Passports and Visas and they were in this country as illegal aliens. I’m unable to prove that but considering the people I saw in their office getting Unemployment Compensation I am 99 percent sure Becx was discriminated again.

We tried to file a discrimination lawsuit against Lunex Telecom but all the Attorneys we contacted said that discrimination is pretty much legal and that employers can do whatever they want to you and you can’t do anything about it. Guess I don’t see any reason to have anti-discrimination and anti-workplace harassment laws if they won’t be enforced.

Becx Was Discriminated Against for Being Asian by Other Asians

Written By:  Andrew Eide

We moved from Concord, California, to Duluth, Georgia, in September 2012 due to Becx receiving a good job offer from the President and Vice President of Lunex Telecom located in Duluth, Georgia.

This job came about due to the sister of the President and Vice President of Lunex meeting Becx in San Francisco and she asked her brothers to hire Becx to work in Project Management. They made the job offer and we moved to Duluth, Georgia in September 2012.

Things went well for Becx until around the 6 month point in her employment. There were two main issues with the company. The main issue is that the President and Vice President of the company are brothers and they are Vietnamese. Most of the workers with the company are also Vietnamese and relatives of the President and Vice President.

After 6 months in her Project Management job they demanded that Becx also take on Sales & Marketing. Becx flatly told them she has always worked in Project Management and IT Support and she does not feel comfortable working in Sales & Marketing. They didn’t care and they forced Becx to take on those added duties even though she begged them not to do it.

Now that Becx had the added responsibility of Sales & Marketing she had to deal with the Promotions and Marketing persons who were, seriously, located in Vietnam. Due to the situation of the Vietnamese working at Lunex having a difficult time understanding English there was a major communications problem between Becx and most of the Vietnamese at Lunex.

Then she received the ultimate insult when the Marketing personnel, and the President and Vice President of Lunex told Becx something like the following (I am paraphrasing):

You people from the Philippines are stupid and you don’t understand English! Becx responded that in the Philippines from 1^st Grade through graduation in college all your classed are taught in English. She further stated the fact that in every business environment, even if you only deal with Filipinos, you are required to speak English. Becx then told them she takes offense to their insult that she is stupid and that she doesn’t understand English. She knew, and they knew, that it was the Vietnamese working at Lunex who were the problem and who didn’t understand English.

Becx became so stressed out that our family doctor told her she either finds another job with less stress or she might suffer a stroke or heart attack. Becx started looking for a job but she left working at Lunex when her one year contract was up in September 2013. She was able to find a job located in Roswell but that story of what happened at that job location will come after I post what happened with the Georgia Department of Labor in that they also discriminated against Becx for being Asian and they refused to give her Unemployment Compensation for the time she was unemployed.

June 2016 is a Continuation of My Discrimination Comments

Written By:  Andrew Eide

In January 2016 I started out the year of blogs with articles stating how I was discriminated against in housing, employment, promotions, etc., due to being White, male, older, or a combination of the three.

During June 2016 my blogs will again focus on discrimination but this time the discrimination will focus on areas other than being White, male, older, or a combination of the three.

I will present to you incidents of discrimination my wife received for being a Woman and an Asian from the Philippines. You will be shocked when you find out that the worst discrimination she received since immigrating to the United States was from Asians other than from the Philippines.

So hang onto your hats and I’m going to breeze through these topics and if you are not holding onto your hate the swift breeze will blow your hat off.