Just a Girl by Lucinda Jackson

Author:Lucinda Jackson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2019-10-11T16:00:00+00:00

SINCE I WAS back in the home office again, every day I observed Greg’s higher-up, Dr. Tim Johnson, the vice president of research and product development. Like Greg, Tim also liked to hold court around the coffeepot. Just hearing his voice booming across the cubicle jungle made me shudder. I had witnessed what he could do to someone he didn’t like. There was a Filipino man, Dr. Christian Ocampo, one of only two nonwhite members in our group. Christian was a nice guy, funny and smart, and I liked him. Then Tim started telling all his employees that Christian was a persona non grata and that we shouldn’t eat lunch with him. It was never clear what he had done to earn this disrespect, besides the obvious racism on Tim’s part. But no one seemed to need any facts.

Pretty soon, everyone was avoiding Christian. One day after a week or so of this gossip from Tim, I saw him sitting alone in the cafeteria. I gripped my tray, strode toward him, and plopped down in the empty seat beside him. I will never forget his look of gratitude, especially because it was my last chance to show him direct compassion and solidarity. The following day, either because Tim fired him or because he quit, Christian was gone.

Next came a black man, Dr. Ned Jackson, who had top credentials from a prestigious university. Tim started rumors about him, too, saying he was incompetent, and used the same freeze-out tactic, telling everyone not to associate with him. Ned had little field experience and asked multiple colleagues to allow him to accompany them so he could grasp the real crop world. No one would do it, because of Ned’s ostracized status. When I invited him to come with me, furious warnings erupted: “You can’t travel with a black man” and “A black man and a white woman working together is repulsive.”

Ned’s last name was the same as mine—Jackson. This led to further outcry: “Everyone will think you’re married.” Ned and I went on a successful trip, with no problems, but shortly after that, he, too, was gone from the company.

I figured I was next in the “women and minorities” category, so I tried to avoid Tim whenever I could and just lie low. But it didn’t work; I was in his crosshairs.

On a business trip to New York one night, I told the other employees with me that I was going into the city to see an old college friend and go ice-skating with him in Central Park. When I got back to the office the next week, Tim had spread rumors that I was having an affair with a man in New York, and that I was using business hours for a sordid rendezvous. The technique was the same that Lonnie used against me in Northern California—to “ruin” me so that I would quit in shame.

Alan accompanied me to the office in my defense. We had an appointment with Tim to elucidate the truth, but each time we tried to approach him, his secretary intervened.

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