Media #3

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080201/NEWS16/802010384

This article was about how three former employees of the mayor of Toledo’s office got fired. There was this whole process and accusing, but it came down to the mayor firing a women because she was black along with two other people who supported her (they were also black). I chose this article because it fits with Johnson’s idea of deny and minimize, blame the victim.
This article is a perfect example of how a person denies the fact that he is laying off a three people because of their color. This lady was laid off because of her color and to cover up the mayor claimed that she was fired due to her siding with a case that the mayor strongly opposed. This article shows that this racial issue occurs everywhere and it is sad that it happens in the workplace. So many times you see someone not getting because of their color, where there from, where they live, or even what sex they are. People everyday people do the, deny and minimize thing because most of us are observers and we realize that it is there but we just watch it happen. Also some people or the privileged try to define for other people what is happening for them, as if they are in there shoes. Also what usually comes out of this is the fact that the people who do the firing because of color in the workplace try to find some other way to hide it and make it look like it’s not a big deal. There have probably be countless times where a person of color is fired and the boss may point out the smallest thing they do wrong and claim that as their reason of firing them so they do not look racist. Johnson calls this blaming the victim. Another way of putting it would be how someone gets off the “hook” because he or she claims that it is entirely the persons of color fault. Just to put this in perspective to I have experienced first hand that this denying of color can also go towards the whites to. I played football and we had blacks on my team and I loved them all like brother, but for some reason it seemed that our coaches who were all white babied them. It always seemed that they were not as hard on them as they were on the rest of the kids. Now when I heard a parent confront one of my coaches about it he denied the fact that color had anything to do with it. When in reality he felt sorry for them and believed they needed special attention. I also want to add that all of the black kids came from well off families so it’s not like they came from a bad part of town.
I found this article to be very interesting and true. So many times you see this happen in the work place and it is especially eye catching when you think the leader of your city who probably preaches about equality does it him or her self. It goes to show you that anybody is capable of doing it and it can happen at any level of work.