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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In college I had an internship at a museum, my colleague was another student.  I  am white, she was black. without going into detail, she was at times quite defensive or hostile to me, and I wasn't really sure why at the time and couldn't understand what I was doing to offend her. But since then I've reflected a lot on that experience, in part because it was one of the first experiences I had with someone really not liking me (I am a people pleaser too....). With wisdom and experience, I've come to see that she had travelled a much different road than i had. I was (seemingly) the daughter of privilege, in an ivy school, she came from a neighborhood where if you did get to college, you didnt study art or art history. She faced many more hurdles than I did, and was operating in a very "white" environment where she was subject to all kinds of assumptions that I was not subject to  (and sadly the institutionalized art world has not changed much). [b]Now I work for a federal agency and while I would like to believe it is color and gender blind, it most defenitely is not. Half our employees are AA, more than half are women, but EVERY executive officer and most department heads are white men. I find it hard to believe that is mere coincidence, or the lack of qualified applicants. It is a racism that is subconscious on the part of so many--people tend to work with, encourage, promote those they feel "comfortable" with--which leads to the perpetuation of the elite. [/b]

as for the comment, it was probably inappropriate, but I have heard much worse. [/quote]

A friend of mine works for an agency that requires particular, difficult college degrees. The majority of the workforce is made up of asians. The majority of the executive officers are white.[/quote]

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