I'm an old, retired lady now, so I no longer have to put up with the employment bull, but oh, do people like us suffer. I have two Master's Degrees and am conversant, though not fluent, in a second language. There's no other way to put it; white people have resented me for it. Every day we show up to do our jobs, we are subjected to resentment that we are actually competent. There are those who still believe that there must be some form of white genie hiding beneath our desks giving us answers, because we could not possibly know them ourselves.

We live in the double jeopardy of being labeled as "less competent," then weather the animosity that follows when we prove competent and the downright ire when we prove to be super competent.

Do you remember the story of the black woman, who held two, if not three graduate degrees, who was reported to the police for parking her car and walking to her own apartment? Rather than sympathize with, or apologize to, her for her experience, white commenters posted "Well, if she had been friendlier to her neighbors, then they would have known who she was." There is no equal responsibility on the parts of white neighbors to be friendly? How about, "Why did she choose to live in a 'white' neighborhood?" Another commenter wrote, "With the weight of all those degrees, it's a wonder she could even walk." The woman got ridiculed for being well educated. We can't win.

Oh, I didn't write this myself. It contains an argument, examples, and big words. I am either Jewish, masquerading as black (yes, I've been told that) or some sort of thought prisoner "carrying out the words of my hook-nosed masters." Yes. I've been told that too. I wonder why, in a world where we would benefit from everyone's contributions, some talent is blatantly unwelcome.