The Blue Collar Woman

Going to Work in Trump's America

I have a friend who works in a place that is the epitome of the “Good Ol’ Boys Club.” I worked there once; was it yesterday or a lifetime ago? My friend, let’s call her Chica Sullivan, is an aware, intelligent, hard-working fireball. She works in a male dominated, prejudicial, blue collar environment with the most diverse group of people I have ever seen in one workplace. Although men and women, young and old, gay and straight people from all over the globe work and coexist together, the management and, more importantly, the breakrooms are dominated by white, hetero, Christian, male ideals and attitudes. That is not to say that all members of that group are as intolerable as this group, but the ones who were prone to ignorant and misogynistic behavior have been given license to exacerbate their cowardly and testosterone influenced behavior.

Chica has worked in this environment for many years. So did I. She has my most heartfelt empathy as she is not the type of person who can “get over it” when she hears her coworkers advocating bigotry and chauvinism. Why, you ask? Because she is a logical human being who cares about her fellow man. Oh she’s no saint, who among us is? I would never, ever recommend pissing off this woman. Like me, she becomes irate when a group of white guys, (and yes, they are most vocal when in a group, as are all little boys) excuses and even applauds the racist rants of our new POTUS. I know exactly who these boys are. One used to look forward to December 7 as he saw it as “Hate a Jap” day. Another, probably who thinks that the protests are about losing an election, is likely the most vocal supporter of the “You lost, get over it” movement. Oh yeah, he’s the one who still waves the Confederate flag. Another, who enjoys texting dirty jokes to the women, has blamed President Obama for everything that has happened on earth in the past eight years. It’s raining? “Thanks, Obama.” He is also the kind of guy that has to constantly reiterate how much he respects women and tells you how many black friends he has in order to dissuade us of the more clever sect from believing he is a racist. Ps, you haven’t fooled anyone.

Chica works with and endures the ceaseless whining of these little boys but she also works with men and women. One man, perhaps the most respected in the place and also an immigrant, was wise enough to prefer that his crew was made up entirely of women. He told me women worked harder and smarter. It has been my experience in that particular place of work that he is correct.

Then we have the plain old bullies. The ones who, when among their similarly immature and ignorant peers, make fun of one’s religious beliefs, personal appearance, and believe it or not, their intellect. Yes, these boys (and some little girls) love to use the word “retard.” If someone doesn’t believe in the same manner as they do, he is a retard. If something is not popular or stylish, it is gay. Yes, these are supposed adults who say these things. And Chica, who has the intellect and courage to speak openly and honestly, fights them in groups. When I worked there, I used to tell myself, often one hundred times or more each day, that “Arguing with a fool only proves that there are two.” (Mark Twain) It is hard. The mental agony a sane, intelligent, non-prejudiced adult faces in that place is far more demanding than any physical requirement needed. And Chica can do the physical. While these boys complain about their work load (not all of them), Chica performed a very physically demanding job while carrying a healthy baby. And I mean her own child, not like when she figuratively carries the baby boys with whom she works.

Now, there are many, many good men, real men who work with Chica. They come from all backgrounds and various levels of education and somehow are all able to comprehend that people are people. Some of the biggest and strongest boys are the laziest, whiniest, most unintelligent, insecure little babies I have ever known. They love to gossip and hold the belief that the rules do not apply to them. And since the election of their new Grand Wizard, their sense of entitlement, which was present since birth, has shot through the roof.

Chica, I can’t begin to tell you the level of respect I have for you in standing strong and being brave. I want you to know a few things: 1) You are not alone in your frustration; 2) These are culturally biased boys with whom you are dealing; 3) Somewhere in their emotional and intellectual development they were stunted and therefore remain extremely insecure and are afraid of change; 4) Insecure people (and Fascists) constantly seek out the inferior other so as to distract themselves and others from their shortcomings. Most importantly please remember this; gorillas in the zoo go insane because they are too intelligent for their environment. Keep up the fight, I got your back. Peace.

Wannsee and Trump: The Eerie Coincidence of January 20

How Will History Treat This Day in 2092?

January 20 is now and will in the future a pivotal day marked by historians. In 2017, this date marks the inauguration of Donald Trump as the President of the United States. As he puts his small hand on the Bible (perhaps causing a fire to erupt) I will be philosophizing about an event that, coincidentally, took places seventy-five years prior; the Wannsee Conference.

In the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, on January 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich presided over a conference of Nazi leaders to solidify their plans to deal with the “Jewish Question.” Rounding up and murdering Jews, gypsies, political enemies, and any others who were not deemed worthy of life under the Third Reich had gone on for many years; therefore, the Wannsee meeting was not the event that determined the fate of European Jews. Rather, it was the convergence of men who adopted plans to expedite the liquidation process of the Final Solution.

Heydrich, so-called by the Slavic People as the “Butcher of Prague,” chaired the meeting that decreed, “Approximately 11 million Jews will be involved in the final solution of the European Jewish question.”  Briefly, the plan implemented to answer the Jewish Question was as follows:

“Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as a the seed of a new Jewish revival (see the experience of history.)”[1]

Determining who was a Jew fell to the application of the Nuremburg Laws. If you’ve listened to Donald Trump discuss his theory on genetics, you’re already a step ahead in understanding these laws. You see, Nazi’s didn’t care about the religious aspect of being Jewish, they were concerned with genetic Jews; genetic Jews are Semites and Semites are desert people of Middle Eastern origin, thus Arabic peoples are also Semites and face anti-Semitism. That phrase, however, which arose in 19^th century Germany as a way to describe discrimination against secular Jews, is considered to denote anti-Jewish racism. But let’s look at it in a literal sense; Jews and Arabs are both Semites; therefore, a hatred toward either group can logically be considered anti-Semitism. Is this eerie coincidence of January 20 starting to make more sense?

Seventy-five years to the day after the most heinous crimes against humanity of the 20^th century, arguably of all time, were solidified, Donald Trump, who is in all likelihood the most anti-Semitic P(e)O(t u) S in recent memory, will swear to God and country to Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States of America. The irony of this is not lost on me nor should it be on you. I am a historian and since the minute Donald opened his mouth in the primaries, I have been frightened. A weary nation recovering from financial hardship, unemployment, and ongoing war was searching for a charismatic leader who promised us everything we wanted. Well, as long as you are a heterosexual, white, Christian, male. Government institutions had seemingly failed us and we were being overrun by those damn foreigners. We needed room to spread out and live (Hitler called this Lebensraum), we needed to get rid of the damned Socialists, stop the queers and their warped agenda, lock up our political enemies, keep women barefoot and pregnant, and silence those no-good, smart-ass intellectuals. It worked for Hitler….and Mussolini. 

The Nazi Party was legally elected into office, perhaps that is the one area in which Trump and the Nazis differ. Once people’s lives started to improve financial under the new regime, people closed their eyes to the atrocities that were occurring right under their very noses. We can’t do this. As human beings we must not allow this to happen.

So, whether you watch, attend, or protest the inauguration ceremony, remember that on the very same day in 1942, wheels were also in motion for the Final Solution. Think of one of the millions of people who were tortured and murdered simply because of their ethnicity. Whatever you do on the 20^th as far as the inauguration is concerned, don’t ignore the significance of the day or the irony of the symbolism. You never know who will be next.

---

[1] http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/news/uploads/WanseeProtocols.pdf