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J.D. Bullington: Forgive me, the aggrieved white male

By J.D. Bullington
Sunday, May 21, 2006

"Never again will you be capable of ordinary human feeling. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves. It is intolerable to us that an erroneous thought should exist anywhere in the world, however secret and powerless it may be. The command of the old despotisms was "Thou shalt not." The command of the totalitarians was "Thou shalt." Our command is "Thou art."
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George Orwell, excerpts from "1984"

How do you expect me to feel about this?

I'm not an expert in sociology. I cannot challenge William Bielby on scientific or academic grounds. I will not stoop so low as to call William Bielby names.

So I can't jump. Apparently, I can't help being a sexist, racist bigot either, according to Bielby, the controversial sociologist who is the leading proponent of a new legal and social theory referred to as "unconscious bias."

Bielby's theory advances the notion that white men naturally discriminate against women and minorities because of innate stereotypes that reside in the unconscious sector of white men's brains.

Therefore, white male managers with too much discretion who rely on subjective factors when hiring and promoting employees, unknowingly revert to stereotypes when making personnel decisions.

Business Week magazine recently published a story about Bielby and the increasing acceptance of his ideas among juries and judges who decide large discrimination and gender bias cases against major corporations. Bielby has testified in more than 50 cases, including the class-action lawsuit pending against Wal-Mart for gender discrimination, Johnson & Johnson for racial discrimination and Morgan Stanley, which settled sexual discrimination claims for $54 million.

I am a white male with a white male question: Why me? Why have I been singled out and held to a different standard based on the color of my skin? If everyone has this subconscious prejudicial propensity, as Bielby apparently believes, then why are all the discrimination lawsuits, where this theory is introduced and considered, always against whites?

I want to discuss this subject with my black friend, Gene Grant, another columnist for this newspaper. When I run into Gene next time at the Flying Star Downtown, it will be in his symbolic shadow I shall sit, hoping to emerge from this dark and desolate valley where I now reside onto the sunlit path of racial justice.

It will be an honest conversation, occurring on the high plane of dignity and discipline. I will tell Gene how lucky he is to not be a white man in America today, given the pervasive atmosphere of intolerance and prejudice toward the subconscious thoughts of me and my white brothers.

Forgive me if I dramatize my shameful condition. I find myself an exile in my own land. I am guilty of wrongful deeds before the presumption of innocence.

I have a dream: If I float, I'm a witch. If I drown, my innocence and lack of innate bias will be rewarded eternally in the afterlife, where justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am doomed as a white man. I may never again be hired as a manager because I'm inherently racist. I may never again become a group leader because I'm inherently sexist.

Will someone please recommend a good defense lawyer? I feel discriminated against based on an unfair stereotype.

My crime is I exist.

Bullington is senior policy adviser and director of New Mexico government relations for the Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber law firm. He writes this column weekly.