Do White People Really Find It Awkward And Uncomfortable To Work With Black People?

[sp1814]

According to Jeffery Tucker they do.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/newham-havering-racism-councillor-jeffrey-2840728

"[i[He slammed proposals to combine the back office services of Havering and Newham councils in east London in a bid to save cash".[i]

Which I find odd...because I've grown up in South London in a very racially diverse area, and throughout my working career, have worked with many racial groups, and have never felt 'awkward and uncomfortable.

Is Jeffery Tucker actually offending his fellow white councillor a, who wouldn't want to be associated with the remarks?

[bednobs]

i used to feel uncomfortable working around a black colleague. Mind you, that was because he was so "Phwoar" good looking i used to have sex dreams about him, then be very uncomfortable around him the next day. Once i spilt a cup of tea over my legs and he said "you'd better get those trousers off" I still think of that day fondly

[mikey4444]

Thanks you for sharing that with us bednobs !

[lady-janine]

worked for a few years in an office with 52 and women men - all colours - white, brown, black, cream, etc., - all religions - christian, jewish, sihks, hindu, muslim, jehovas witness, non-believers, etc - many nationalities - british, iranian, indian, ugandan, caribbean, pakistani, bangladeshi, israeli, norwegian, swedish, greek. arguments about work but not colour or religion except from the JW. imo you just have to respect one another as human beings.

[lady-janine]

bednobs - i know what you mean.

[mushroom25]

this weekend, a friend was speaking about having recently had his annual appraisal (or PDR to pick up today's buzzword...), and that he'd said to his boss and the accompanying HR person that he had real difficulty filling it in; this was because the appraisal form forced him to think in ways that just didn't come naturally to him. the company diversity policy, as he put it, forced him to think of one colleague as "black" rather than as "Geoff", and of another as "disabled" instead of "Gemma".

[anotheoldgit]

lady-janine

Blimey lady-janine who did you work for, the United Nations?

[sp1814]

AOG

You're talking about a single woman entering a male-dominated environment, whereas this story is about combining two back offices.

As long as people treat their colleagues with respect, and maintain a professional attitude at work, I can't understand why Councillor Tucker's point.

You have to wonder whether he's speaking about council workers without first asking them what they think - because as I mentioned before - to tar all his colleagues with the same brush is quite insulting to them.

[phleb]

No, I don't think white people find it uncomfortable. Only the racist ones might. Everyone has a different way of living, that doesn't mean you feel bad about yours. White people are not that narrow minded that they would feel uncomfortable.

[boxtops]

I don't - our office is multiracial, multireligion, and so are our personal friends. We don't differentiate. I don't care what colour my work colleagues are, as long as they can do the job.

[EDDIE51]

Having lived worked and trained students in Central Africa, Europe and the Middle East I can say for certain that it does not matter what colour a persons skin is or where they were born, there are good people and not so good people. It makes no difference to how you work with them, after a very short while you only see the person not the skin colour or racial origin . To say you find it hard to work with a black person is a daft as saying ' I find it hard to work with someone with ginger hair or someone who is bald. Jeffery Tucker is a blatant racist to even suggest such a thing.

[jomifl]

Interesting question sp, could you clarify what you mean by 'white people' ?

[sp1814]

Not sure - I assume Tucker was referring to White British people.

[jomifl]

OK thanks.,.

[EDDIE51]

Possibly at a tangent to the question but, in my experience Nairobi , Kenya was the least 'racially biased' place I have been. All races and skin colours just out and enjoying the atmosphere a significant proportion of Kenyan citizens are 'white' but chose Kenyan nationality.

[atalanta]

When I ( to all intents and purposes the colour of uncooked pastry) went to work in a Caribbean country, was I supposed to make my local colleagues feel odd ?
Their country, after all - I was the outsider.
Any problem I might have had would have been mine, not theirs.
But nobody batted an eyelid.

[emmie]

no, i never did.