You really sound angry. I'm sorry. Do you happen to know Jim Anderson. He's at the library on the New Brunswick campus. Went to high school with him. I won't go into which A-A or Anglo world cause I don't really want to fight about what was intended to be a sort of thought-provoking discussion not a raging battle. But then, I've been in the South for twenty-seven years and haven't been up in your territory for awhile. Maybe I am just mis-reading that naturally abrasive (as I was called for years by my southern colleagues) tone that folks in your regional culture have in their voice all the time. ------ Robert Handy Brazoria County Historical Museum 100 East Cedar Angleton, Texas 77515 (409) 864-1208 museum_bob [log in to unmask] http://www.bchm.org ---------- From: Adrienne Deangelis[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, August 26, 1998 6:53 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Equity and All That The point I've been trying to make is that no one is automatically qualified for a professional museum or academic position solely, or even as the last qualifier, on the basis of his or her supposed cultural background. Yes, there is discrimination against those who don't seem to have this background, but that's wrong. Those students in the black studies class you took 30 years ago were wrong to push you out, and they would probably have a hard time getting away with that today. Another thread on this list has been the great difficulty of starting up a museum career. IMHO, the great shortage of even halfway decent jobs in the humanities and the arts has led to an increase in favoritism and other types of bizarre hiring decisions, and I think that a lot of people feel this way. There may not be a lot that one can do--except keep applying, which has been suggested--but this defeatist semi-racism does nothing to correct the situation. BTW, which African-American experience in the "Anglo" world are you talking about? That of the corporate lawyer who lives in Portola Valley, that of the schoolteacher in Montebello, that of the single parent in Watts? And which "Anglo" world are you talking about? A. DeAngelis [log in to unmask]