By: Darrel Williams

Darrel Williams — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:35:26 +0000

Mr. Cornsilk, what made you seek out the old guy white vs some other person? If it was an old black guy would you have done the same? On the one hand you keep saying it had nothing to do with color but instead culture. What’s the difference? Judging by the tone of your comment it seems like you have a bit of antipathy toward black people/culture. You use one incident to make generalizations about “clear distinctions” between blacks and whites.

By: David Cornsilk

David Cornsilk — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:50:45 +0000

I worked in retail for five years and saw many things that often shocked and amazed me. Of the many things I saw which drew clear distinctions between blacks and whites was line jumping. While whites usually waited patiently in line, blacks had no compunction whatsoever about cutting in line, often allowing friends to get in line with them, much to the dismay of other shoppers. I chalked this up to cultural differences, as there could not be a genetic link for line jumping and disrespecting your fellow shoppers. And I also noted that the more professional looking a person was, regardless of race, the less likely they were to line jump. Which could also be a measure of educational attainment, another cultural component. In the store I worked it was required that if a line grew to 3 people, a new line would be opened and the next person in line would be served at the new register. As a manager, when I had no other cashiers and jumped in to help when our lines grew too long. I walked to the line next to mine and picked up the items of an older white gentleman who was the next person in line. I put his items on the counter and opened my register. As he shuffled to my line a black woman jumped from the back of a more distant line and cut in front of him, throwing her items on the counter in front of his. I calmly reached past her items and started ringing his up. She shouted at me and accused me of putting someone ahead of her. When I told her the gentleman she had nearly knocked down was next in line, her response was, “Its a color thing!” I continued to ring up his items, but told her it had nothing to do with color, he was next in line and she had come from the back of another line. To which she replied, “How could he be the next in line when I’m standing right here.” She reiterated her conclusion that I had disrespected her and moved the white guy ahead because of her and his race. As an American Indian, the fact that the white guy was older than me, and an elder, would have prompted me to let him go first, regardless of his race. But besides that, he really was next in line and her position was probably no greater than fourth or fifth in line. That was just one of many experiences I had in which I perceived cultural differences prompted someone to act one way or another. So instead of being a color thing, I believe it is a cultural thing.

By: Wilbur Jay

Wilbur Jay — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:29:45 +0000

I am still out to lunch on exactly how did Ms. Ellis catch a felony hitch for shopping lane hopping? Did Ms. Elllis push another shopper out of their space ? Did Ms. Ellis run a shopper over with her shopping kart while grabbing the money from the open cash register as she exited the store ?

Comments on: Next in Line: Race, Wal-Mart, and Racial Progress

By: Darrel Williams

By: David Cornsilk

By: Wilbur Jay