Man Seeks S.S. Disability for His “Whiteness”
Al Ritter
Percy Whittington lives in Baltimore City and is employed
as a hairdresser. Since the Baltimore Riots of 2015 he feels that his means of
making a living has been seriously challenged. His customer base has been
dropping ever since the riots and he feels he knows the reason….his “whiteness.”
“Nothing has changed in my ability to style and cut hair,”
says Mr. Whittington as he was being interviewed at his home in the Cherry Hill
area of Baltimore City. “My ability to pay my bills and live in harmony within
my neighborhood has been seriously diminished.”
Mr. Whittington has been successfully employed at Laquita's
Hairweave for the last 17 years, but only until recently has he questioned the
reason for his declining clientele base. “I have successfully kept up with
current styles and have even learned how to do cornrowing, but now that seems
to mean nothing.”
Mr. Whittington believes that his current drop in
customers is due to his “physical disability,” the fact of his “whiteness.”
When questioned about possibly changing careers, his reply was, “why should I
change careers when the problem is the color of my skin?”
“Some people have suggested that I move out of downtown
Baltimore and get a job in the suburbs, but that would require me to start all
over and build a new client basis, and that just makes no sense at my age.”
Although Mr. Whittington is just 48 years old he feels he is in the twilight of
his career and sees no hope in recovering his current earning capability.
“People need to understand that being white is a real
physical disability, and needs to be addressed by government. I haven’t saved
much over my working career and now the government needs to help me out, after
all it’s only fair. President Obama has helped so many people since he came
into office and now he needs to help me though my disability. President Obama
has been redefining many things in our lives and now this is just one more area
he needs to work on.”
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