in-teg-ri-ty (from Dictionary.com):
- adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
- the state of being whole, entire or undiminished.
- a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition.
I have always advocated that one should take responsibility and accountability for what one does, does not do and for what one says. We are not perfect, but that’s not the issue. In our imperfections, once we make a mistake or do something that isn’t right, we need to own it, apologize if need be and make it right. This is all rooted in the concept of personal integrity. This is what bothers me most: when one does not act with any integrity!
Today, living with any sense of integrity is not seen as a positive attribute. Actually it is seen as a weakness. The latest celebrity figure from our community who has manifested this lack of integrity is Olympic track and field star Marion Jones. These s/heroes from our community once were the standard, the model of hard work and personal integrity. Now they are just a reflection of the the lack of responsibility, lack of accountability and loss of personal integrity which the wider society now perpetuates…. and this wider society includes us! There are those we come in contact with every day, even some of us, who act with no sense of personal integrity. It’s not that we never had it, it’s not that our parents or grandparents never schooled us on theses values…. we’ve either lost it or sold out for selfish accolades and/or material trinkets.
“Integrity comes when character is tested; keep true and never be ashamed of doing what is right.”
I was faced with a situation where I was temporarily assigned as a supervisor towards the end of last year. I didn’t receive the customary supervisor’s pay for the first 2 months of this assignment. Why? Because my manager who is “white”, didn’t file the required paper work in time. It is policy that temporary increases in pay for acting supervisory assignments must be filed and approved before it starts. When I enquired about this at the time, my manager lied to me and said that he had filed the paperwork, but his manager who had to also approve it, had at first lost it and when he had filed the paperwork a second time, it sat on his supervisor’s desk and didn’t get approved in time. He assured me that I would receive all my supervisor’s pay in the next period. I didn’t make an issue of it at the time since I felt that getting the experience was beneficial enough at that point. After 6 months of performing supervisory duties, I was finally given my supervisors wage but it was retrograded to the start of 2007…. so I only received 4 months compensation. My manager informed me that I couldn’t get compensated for the first 2 months, since they were in 2006, in another fiscal period. hmmmm ok…
Because it was a temporary assignment, the paperwork for supervisor’s pay has to re-filed for every 3 month period. My manager again filed this paperwork late for the summer period that I had supervised…. he actually filed it at the end of the summer. For this reason, his manager refused to approve the late request for my supervisor’s pay, which I had already received, so I had my pay deducted! Now I got to find out that another colleague of mine, who is “white” and also on temporary supervisory assignment, had all his paperwork filed on time by this same manager and therefore received his due compensation… no problem. Subsequently, I also found out that my manager never filed the original paperwork so I could receive my supervisor’s pay for the first 2 months of my assignment!
My manager was informed the same time I was from our human resources department that my pay was being deducted. He never contacted me to explain or apologize for his negligence. There were a number of factors at work here and one of them is “racial”. I believe that subconsciously, my manager felt he had no responsibility to treat me fairly, explain his actions or apologize for his inaction, due to the colour of my skin. It’s a slave masters mentality…. he values my work, but he does not value me as a human being! So after a month I contacted him and made it known that this issue was not about the money, which I was no doubt entitled to, but for me it was now a matter of principle! So I asked him to explain why:
- I was being punished by having my pay deducted, for his not filing the required paperwork on time to extend my supervisory assignment over the summer period?
- Why I didn’t receive my supervisor’s pay right from the time I started the assignment as did my white colleague?
Needless to say this has caused a sh*t storm! My manager took no responsibility nor accountability for his failure to treat me fairly, or for lying to me…. and went on the offensive. He made it known, very strongly and in no uncertain terms, that he was disappointed in me for being so ungrateful for the opportunities he had provided me. He attempted to twist the whole affair around to make it my fault…. my problem…. and I was the one who was being unfair and he was the victim!
“Your integrity is your destiny. It is the light that guides your way.”
I now have a son. I have to be the primary example in his life of acting responsible and being accountable for what one does, doesn’t do and/or say. I have to teach him how to stand up for his principles, beliefs and values. I have to educate him on the fact that as a man, especially a Black man in a “white” dominated society, there are those who will try to take advantage of him, who will devalue him as a human being…. and expect him to be quiet and accept his “fate”. I have to impress upon him that you don’t need to “fight every fight” that comes your way…. you need to pick and choose your fights but you always fight for your principles. I have to be a role model to him on having personal integrity…. no matter what the cost.
I had other co-workers warn me that if I made an issue of this, if I confronted my manager as I had done, that it would seriously jeopardize my chances to get promoted. My reply is “what does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul”. Integrity resides within our soul. Once you lose your integrity, you lose your soul. They say everyone has a price. For Judas, like for some of us, it is 30 pieces of silver. For others it’s the opportunity to eat the scraps from “Massa’s” table. My integrity is not for sale.
October 20, 2007 at 10:00 am
Asa,
This one post alone says so much about how Black people have to live in the Western Hemisphere. My son recently experienced something similar to this. He is in an officers candidate program in the U.S. Coast Guard. He is currently a senior in college so, during his breaks he must go on patrol aboard ship. He must meet certain qualifications within a certain time period while at sea. He and a white friend of his, both, in the same program, were on patrol this summer. They each had four weeks to make the qualification, after only two weeks my son was called into the chief’s office and was told by the chief and staff that “you must really NOT want to be here, you have not qualified yet and you are not progressing fast enough”. But, at the same time my son’s white friend never heard a word until the third week when he was told he was “coming along just fine.” They eventually both qualified within the four week time period. My son had his first true experience of the racist West. He was later accused of addressing a senior officer in the street vernacular “what up man” while on duty. My son says he would not do such a thing as he knows the correct etiquette while in uniform. Needless to say he called me immediately, a bit distraught, to tell me that now he realized what I had been teaching him all his life that he had to work at 200% percent just to be recognized for 100%. You will, as most apt Black fathers will constantly be teaching your/our sons two and three fold lessens all of their lives. This post really hit home for all Black people. You could not have summed this up better. You point out the “forked tongue” lifestyles of whites when it comes to how they deal with non whites.
October 20, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Ensayn: thanks for letting me know that you understand where I’m coming from. Although you/we know what’s going on… sometimes we doubt ourselves and wonder “am I seeing this as it is or as I want it to appear?”
The Struggle Continues.
Peace.
January 13, 2008 at 1:48 am
Hey, man, that made my day. To hear that you took it to them with high principle and integrity. There are so many people who would stew, let it slide and lose their faith AND soul. That makes me want to do the same when confronted with that kind of crap. And it is so unsurprising that the duded flipped it. And some balked when we had that “racism is a mental illness.” Good luck and I hope you get your back pay.
January 13, 2008 at 11:57 am
Asabagna, You have behaved in a regal, dignified and principled manner.Ignore the comments from the co-workers, they are cowards. I hope they pay you what you are worth ; they have not done you any favors. I am sick and tired of white folks constantly dismissing our hard work and contributions.I see it daily. No one has to like me, but I will never allow myself to be disrespected and diminished in any form or fashion. Good luck.
Saludos.
January 16, 2008 at 11:58 pm
When I read this inspirational post it made me think of this. Hope you enjoy it.
Peace
Mobile68
12 Things The Negro Must Do For Himself
http://www.blackmeninamerica.com/12.htm
by Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879–1961)
1. The Negro Must Learn To Put First Things First. The First Things Are:
Education; Development of Character Traits; A Trade and Home Ownership.
The Negro puts too much of his earning in clothes, in food, in show and in having what he calls “a good time.” The Dr. Kelly Miller said, “The Negro buys what he WANTS and begs for what he Needs.”
2. The Negro Must Stop Expecting God and White Folk To Do For Him/Her What
He/She Can Do For Himself. It is the “Divine Plan” that the strong shall help the weak, but even God does not do for man what man can do for himself. The Negro will have to do exactly what Jesus told the man (in John 5:8) to do–Carry his own load–”Take up your bed and walk.”
3. The Negro Must Keep Him/Herself, His/Her Children And His/Her Home Clean And
Make The Surroundings In Which He/She Lives Comfortable and Attractive. He must learn to “run his community up”–not down. We can segregate by law, we integrate only by living. Civilization is not a matter of race, it is a matter of standards. Believe it or not–some day, some race is going to outdo the Anglo-Saxon, completely. It can be the Negro race, if the Negro gets sense enough. Civilization goes up and down that way.
4. The Negro Must Learn To Dress More Appropriately For Work And For Leisure.
Knowing what to wear–how to wear it–when to wear it and where to wear it, are earmarks of common sense, culture and also an index to character.
5. The Negro Must Make His/Her Religion An Everyday Practice And Not Just A
Sunday-Go-To-Meeting Emotional Affair.
6. The Negro Must Highly Resolve To Wipe Out Mass Ignorance. The leaders of the race must teach and inspire the masses to become eager and determined to improve mentally, morally and spiritually, and to meet the basic requirements of good citizenship. We should initiate an intensive literacy campaign in America, as well as in Africa. Ignorance–satisfied ignorance–is a millstone abut the neck of the race. It is democracy’s greatest burden. Social integration is a relationship attained as a result of the cultivation of kindred social ideals, interests and standards. It is a blending process that requires time, understanding and kindred purposes to achieve. Likes alone and not laws can do it.
7. The Negro Must Stop Charging His Failures Up To His/Her “Color” And To White
People’s Attitude.The truth of the matter is that good service and conduct will make senseless race prejudice fade like mist before the rising sun. God never intended that a man’s color shall be anything other than a badge of distinction. It is high time that all races were learning that fact. The Negro must first QUALIFY for whatever position he wants. Purpose, initiative, ingenuity and industry are the keys that all men use to get what they want. The Negro will have to do the same. He must make himself a workman who is too skilled not to be wanted, and too DEPENDABLE not to be on the job, according to promise or plan. He will never become a vital factor in industry until he learns to put into his work the vitalizing force of initiative, skill and dependability. He has gone “RIGHTS” mad and “DUTY” dumb.
8. The Negro Must Overcome His/Her Bad Job Habits.He must make a brand new reputation for himself in the world of labor. His bad job habits are absenteeism, funerals to attend, or a little business to look after. The Negro runs an off and on business. He also has a bad reputation for conduct on the job–such as petty quarrelling with other help, incessant loud talking about nothing; loafing, carelessness, due to lack of job pride; insolence, gum chewing and–too often–liquor drinking. Just plain bad job habits!
9. He Must Improve His/Her Conduct In Public Places.Taken as a whole, he is entirely too loud and too ill-mannered. There is much talk about wiping out racial segregation and also much talk about achieving integration. Segregation is a physical arrangement by which people are separated in various services. It is definitely up to the Negro to wipe out the apparent justification or excuse for segregation. The only effective way to do it is to clean up and keep clean. By practice, cleanliness will become a habit and habit becomes character.
10. The Negro Must Learn How To Operate Business For People–Not For Negro
People, Only.To do business, he will have to remove all typical “earmarks,” business principles; measure up to accepted standards and meet stimulating competition, graciously–in fact, he must learn to welcome competition.
11. The Average So-Called Educated Negro Will Have To Come Down Out Of The Air.
He/She Is Too Inflated Over Nothing. He/She Needs An Experience Similar To The
One That Ezekiel Had–(Ezekiel 3:14-19). And He/She Must Do What Ezekiel DidOtherwise, through indifference, as to the plight of the masses, the Negro, who thinks that he has escaped, will lose his own soul. It will do all leaders good to read Hebrew 13:3, and the first Thirty-seven Chapters of Ezekiel. A race transformation itself through its own leaders and its sensible “common people.” A race rises on its own wings, or is held down by its own weight. True leaders are never “things apart from the people.” They are the masses. They simply got to the front ahead of them. Their only business at the front is to inspire to masses by hard work and noble example and challenge them to “Come on!” Dante stated a fact when he said, “Show the people the light and they will find the way!” There must arise within the Negro race a leadership that is not out hunting bargains for itself. A noble example is found in the men and women of the Negro race, who, in the early days, laid down their lives for the people. Their invaluable contributions have not been appraised by the “latter-day leaders.” In many cases, their names would never be recorded, among the unsung heroes of the world, but for the fact that white friends have written them there.
“Lord, God of Hosts, Be with us yet.”The Negro of today does not realize that, but, for these exhibits A’s, that certainly show the innate possibilities of members of their own race, white people would not have been moved to make such princely investments in lives and money, as they have made, for the establishment of schools and for the on-going of the race.
12. The Negro Must Stop Forgetting His/Her Friends. “Remember.”Read Deuteronomy 24:18. Deuteronomy rings the big bell of gratitude. Why? Because an ingrate is an abomination in the sight of God. God is constantly telling us that “I the Lord thy God delivered you”–through human instrumentalities. The American Negro has had and still has friends–in the North and in the South. These friends not only pray, speak, write, influence others, but make unbelievable, unpublished sacrifices and contributions for the advancement of the race–for their brothers in bonds. The noblest thing that the Negro can do is to so live and labor that these benefactors will not have given in vain. The Negro must make his heart warm with gratitude, his lips sweet with thanks and his heart and mind resolute with purpose to justify the sacrifices and stand on his feet and go forward–”God is no respector of persons. In every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is” sure to win out. Get to work! That’s the answer to everything that hurts us. We talk too much about nothing instead of redeeming the time by working.
R-E-M-E-M-B-E-R
In spite of race prejudice, America is brim full of opportunities. Go after them!
Nannie Helen Burroughs was an educator, orator, religious leader and businesswoman who moved to Washington, D.C., as a young woman to take advantage of the city’s superior educational opportunities. While living in Washington she decided to open a school for African American girls to prepare them for a productive adult life. Burroughs was an active member of her church, where she organized a women’s club that conducted evening classes in useful skills such as typewriting, bookkeeping, cooking, and sewing. Her responsibilities within the church increased when she became secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention, which supported missionary work and educational societies in Baptist churches throughout the nation. Burroughs’s dream lifelong dream was realized when she opened the National Training School for Women and Girls in Washington, D.C., in 1909.