BT & WR
(“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”-John 15:12)
Reader Update: WR and BT’s discussion on race began when BT was led to ask his longtime friend how he felt about the negative use of race in the current political atmosphere. WR’s response prompted their ongoing conversation about race and how the issue of race has affected their lives both personally and professionally.
Neither man had ever looked at race as a factor in the development of their friendship, which began in high school and has continued to now as business partners, until now as both face some race issues within each of their families.
Characters: WR: A Venerable Man, BT: A Venerable Man
Setting: The hotel suite in Savannah of the elder Mr. Chang and his son Kim, owners of the Hong Kong Export Company, W & B Transports’ first international client. WR and BT have just entered the room; there are introductions all around as they take a seat at the table where brochures, portfolios and a pot of Jasmine tea awaits the visitors.
WR: (he and BT nod and shake hands with both men) Mr. Chang, it is nice to meet you both W & B Transports is looking forward to doing business with you.
Kim: On behalf of my father and me we look forward to working with W & B Transports. Your portfolio is quite impressive. You have managed to grow each year you’ve been in business.
WR: Thank you. My partner and I have been lucky.
Kim: I don’t think it was just luck; it was obvious you had good contacts and good business skills. My father and I were pleased to know that.Mr. (speaks to his son in Chinese) Chang:
Kim: (a little embarrassed) – Er, my father wants to know if you always bring your driver with you to your meetings. He wonders where your business partner is.
WR: Did I not make it clear that BT is my business partner?
Kim: (relays the information to his father in Chinese. It is obviously a surprise to the elder Mr. Chang who had not been aware that WR’s partner was Black)
BT: (directing his question to the elder Mr. Chang) – Mr. Chang why did you think I was WR’s driver and not his business partner?
Mr. Chang (responding to BT in English) – I do apologize if I offended you. I have never done business with a person of color since I have been sending my products to America. And…forgive me but I was always told that people of color in America did not know how to conduct business and had the misfortune of being no smarter than monkeys. I do apologize and hope this misunderstanding doesn’t affect our business arrangement.
BT: Thank you for the apology and no we are not monkeys but yes we are some of the most successful business people in our country. May I ask? How did you come to have that belief about my people?
Mr. Chang: When I first came to America I saw colored people and I was confused because the businessmen I traded with talked about America and the people who lived there. They always talked negative about certain races in America and they would say that I should not concern myself with doing business with the colored people. I just never questioned them about it anymore. It was their country, why would I not believe them?
BT: I can’t answer that Mr. Chang.
WR: Mr. Chang, are you going to have a problem doing business with us because my business partner is Black?
Mr. Chang: Oh, no that is not what I’m implying at all. It’s just that I find myself faced with two opposing points of view on what I’ve been told about Blacks in America.
BT: What do you mean Mr. Chang?
Mr. Chang: Well, I remember the stories my grandfather used to tell us about his father working in America helping to build the Transcontinental Railroad. He said that my great grandfather was one of the Chinese workers White America hired after they couldn’t get the Whites to do the hard work building the railroad. They hired some Blacks but did not want them to outnumber the Whites.
And even after they imported the Chinese workers here to do the work, White America still viewed both the Blacks and the Chinese as a degraded and undesirable element. But they would rather have the Chinese as a replacement for white workers rather than the Blacks.
The number of Blacks who helped did not get the same wages that were paid to the Chinese workers even though both group of people suffered the degradation of slavery, like beatings and being forced to do the most dangerous jobs of getting the railroad built.
There were people who acted as agents for the Chinese people and took their cut for all kinds of things, like water and food supplies which left very little for the workers. For the Blacks it was even worse. The pay for the Chinese workers was $28 month but for most of the Black workers they were lucky if they got $10.
BT: That was during the time of slavery, before and after Blacks had been declared free by the President. So $10 was probably considered a good salary. Did some of your ancestors stay in the states after the railroad was completed? And when you started doing business with the United States, did you have difficulty because you were Chinese?
Mr. Chang: I did not have the difficulty I might have because by the time I was in a position to do business with America we had many relatives already here working in factories and running food places. Most of them settled in Chinatown in San Francisco and New York.
BT: That brings up a question for me. Why do so many Chinese set up shop in Black neighborhoods? That’s not a complaint as much as a curiosity.
Mr. Chang: I imagine it has something to do with where we could find an inexpensive place to open a business and the undesirable places in the Black areas turned out to be the most profitable for our people. I think it started during the building of the railroad when both races shared and enjoyed each others’ food. It is true to this day, that Blacks love our food is it not?
BT: That is true.
Mr. Chang: (he motions to his son Kim to pour the visitors a cup of tea) That’s wonderful. My personal chef will be preparing lunch for us after we finish our business.
BT: I like your curiosity and honesty I look forward to talking more with both of you and hearing your story of how you became business partners. Shall we get started gentlemen?