4 Men (African American, Pakistani, Russian & Indian) & a White Woman....

[IdaBriggs]

were all sitting down for lunch together.

Sorry, there is no punch line. It was lunch with work colleagues.

- One African American man who is an expert in his field.

- One man born in Pakistan, another expert in his field.

- One whose family is from India, another expert in his field.

- One born in Russia, but here forever, who is also a certified expert in his field.

- And one white woman who is *also* an expert in her field. (Moi!)

And we were all having lunch together while we chatted about work.

It was no big deal. It was lunch. Five professionals, all good at what we do, with amazingly diverse backgrounds, all working together, having lunch, and talking about work.

Fifty years ago, it would have been unthinkable. At least one of us would have been candidate for a lynching at such a concept, and the rest - well, odds are good none of us would have been at the table, let alone together.

But it was just a normal lunch. And for one second, when I looked at it through eyes where this wasn't "normal", I was reminded one more time why this is such a great country.

And it made me proud and happy to be an American, because where I work, this wasn't the start of a joke with a funny punchline.

It was lunch.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

1. You could have at least said.... "walked into a bar" :-P

[IdaBriggs]

2. No drinking while on the job where I work.

No "3-Martini lunches" except in the movies!

I'm good with it. But it would have been funnier if I could have said that, wouldn't it?

[JHB]

18. But then puchline could be "salad bar"...

[Orrex]

3. My white male privilege is offended by the lack of WPM representation at this "lunch"

[IdaBriggs]

8. The Russian gentleman is very caucasion in appearance.

He also speaks with a very thick accent, especially when he gets excited.

We were quite the rainbow coalition! Lol!

[Orrex]

10. Well if he's a gentleman, then he doesn't represent me

I'm still offended, dammit!

[Deep13]

4. When I was in college in the '80s...

...we had an Irish-American professor teach Chinese history, a Chinese professor who taught medieval and specifically French history, and a white Jew who taught African-American history.

[SwissTony]

16. I once gave half a presentation to a group in Rottedam, Holland.

My mother tongue is Glaswegian/English but I speak Dutch. I was born in Scotland.

My co-presenter was Dutch but based in Aberdeen, Scotland.

She gave her part in English, I gave mine in Dutch. The anti-symmetry was quite amusing.

I could have given mine in Glaswegian, but no-one would have understood me.

[pampango]

5. The sight of the 5 of you eating and working together would drive the republican base just crazy.

50 years ago there would have been 5 white guys sitting at that table. They want their country back.

Civil rights legislation, immigration expansion and women's rights have all come with support from Democrats and continuing resistance from republicans.

Thanks for the wonderful and well-written post.

[howmuchforfreedom]

6. Year 2063

The real pondering is what will happen in the next 50 years?

[bluestate10]

23. I predict a color-blind society, at last. Old haters and middle aged haters would have died

off. The people left would be idiots to embrace the race based mistakes of the past. I already see changes in my field, young people are comfortable with each other and focus just on ability and the power of fresh ideas.

[Matariki]

25. I predict a society that ISN'T 'color-blind', but is PROUD of our multi-culturalism

Embraces it, understands that it's what make America unique.

[pampango]

27. I agree. For the near future multi-culturalism will rule. With the growth in interracial marriage

and multi-racial children that we are experiencing, multiculturalism will increasingly come to mean mutual respect between blended cultures and races rather than between relatively distinct ones.

[Joel thakkar]

7. Good to hear...n/t

[IdaBriggs]

11. The African-American and myself.

The Russian was raised here from early childhood, the Pakistani has been here for close to thirty years, and the Indian for probably close to a decade.

Another fun fact: all of our children are US born. Both the African-American and the Pakistani gentlemen have children who are either in or have graduated from college.

Interestingly, the only two who aren't multi-lingual? The African-American and myself!

ON EDIT: All tax-paying American citizens.

[uppityperson]

12. Why does it matter?

[pampango]

14. Does that determine the worth of a person or the value of their contribution to society?

What an odd question to ask given the rich immigrant heritage of the US.

[toby jo]

13. Way cool. Beauty in the world - thanks.

[kentauros]

17. That reminds me of what it's like to shop at this one international market

here in Houston called Phoenicia Specialty Foods. You'll hear people speaking, Russian, Hindi, Urdu, Farsi, Arabic, Spanish, Greek, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and whatever else. Not to mention being able to buy foods from all those parts of the world

Another reason I love my home town

[Warpy]

19. 50 years ago, it might have happened in the employees' cafeteria

in a hospital, but few places else in the USA.

Hospitals have been an amazingly mixed bag of people all doing their jobs and doing them well for that long.

Yes, I'm old enough to have been there in the 60s. My first two bosses in the health care field were black women and they were both great role models.

[Arctic Dave]

20. At least you're keeping out the Irish.

Let them in and there goes the neighborhood.



Note:

The following link is to Blazing Saddles and has offensive language in it.

[IdaBriggs]

26. Hey! I have Irish in me, thanks to a great-grandfather on my mother's side!

I should have gotten his red hair. On the other side, grandpa was from England, and that would have been impossible "once upon a time, not that long ago!"

[notadmblnd]

21. Sounds like a typical lunch at West Bloomfield High School

IMO, West Bloomfield is one of the most diverse cities in Michigan. My son attended WBHS and the diversity is one of the things I loved about the school. I can't think of a nationality or religion that is not represented there.

[IdaBriggs]

22. Hey! We live in West Bloomfield!

My twins are only six though, so we have a ways to go before we do the high school thing.

[Matariki]

24. Love those last two sentences of your post!