Nothing By Coincidence...

Nothing is by coincidence. Last night as I was waiting to pay my bill at the hairdressers, a young woman, another customer, was frantically exiting. The employees were cheering her on but I did not know what her rush was all about...

When I asked where she was going, they told me she was rushing to get a bus from NJ to NYC. Well I am going to Harlem... Of course I said I would have given her a ride. They call and get her to come back and I give her a ride...

As we are riding along, we are chatting away. She was a bright and capable college educated, young lady working as a project engineer in construction. She is married with a 3 year old son working in the field of construction, truly a "man's" world. She began telling me of the racism and sexism she has endured for more than 8 years on her job. She has been looked over for promotions, criticized for taking time off to have a baby, told that she is not "grateful" enough to have her job and of course exposed to racist comments of all sorts.

Sadly the only other "Black" employee at her job is the Affirmative Action Officer" who is aware of all of this but has done nothing to address the matter or help this young woman to be treated fairly, to educate the supervisors and the workers or to make the work place tolerable for her or her peers... Fortunately, and unbeknownst to her, she is hitching a ride with and talking to one who is also an Affirmative Action Officer, who takes her role very seriously and who is not willing to be the minority face that says discrimination is OK...

We spent our ride to the city discussing her situation, the rights she has and what and how she should address her concerns. See, NOTHING is by coincidence...