If you type it, I'll read it. But no pressure.
It's been 40 years, so while I will do my best to say things accurately, I'm only human.
As soon as you asked the question, my mind went back to my first job at a place called The Red Barn, on Lindell Ave. in St. Louis. I was 15, and my family needed the money, so I did not feel like I could leave the job.
I did worked with a racially mixed crew, and on many evenings I was the only white employee. I recall one of my shift managers, in particular, that took a strong dislike to me. Work that was adequate for other employees wan't good enough (or so it seemed to me), and he wouldn't help me or offer advice like he did for the other employees.
However, he couldn't add on the weight of society with his actions. None of the names he could have called me (I don't think he did, this is just hypothetical) would have had any meaning to my being white. His boss was white, and it the treatment got too bad I could have gone the manager, and felt pretty confident I would be listened to.
The shift manager had no continuous participation with how society treated me, rather everything else in my life treated me like I was white. When I was walking home, I wasn't worried about the police stopping me because I fit the description of "white guy, medium height". Any of the few times I did interact with the police, they were respectful and polite, and I never felt threatened. At home, almost all the TV shows has white heroes. At the movies, I never lacked for solid white role models. My teachers showed me the respect white students get.
So, could the manager treat me badly on account of my whiteness, or dislike me for it? Yes. Could they be a part of a societal power structure that made my being white difficult for me in myriad ways over myriad spheres? No.
