Treadwell, CA — ICBTS News
It was all well intended, that is until the crap hit the fan, or in this case, the beach. The Human Resources Inclusion team for the small coastal town of Treadwell, California had just finished a three day seminar for city workers outlining hand gestures and body language that could be offensive to people of color–by way of signaling white nationalism.
At the top of the list, of course was the dreaded “OK” hand gesture, (thumb and index finger forming a circle), which is widely suspected of being code for white supremacy. Workers were also instructed to avoid the “touchdown” football referee gesture, (considered too competitive), holding onto a belt loop (fat shaming), and holding a hand to the eyebrows to shield them from sunshine (considered a throwback to slave plantation overseers supervising production.)
“My guys were a little overwhelmed,” Sanitation chief Ed Santos observed, “and when we had to drain a 50,000 gallon sewage sub-station, we had about 12 honey-dipper trucks lined up to empty the facility. When each truck fills, we use an “okay” sign to tell the pumper to hold up for the next trip. Well, one of our guys remembered the HR training on how racist that signal is and he panicked. As the truck started overflowing, he just bolted to avoid getting slimed. To make a long story short, we pumped about 10,000 gallons of solid waste into the ocean.”
The beach was closed as the cleanup effort began and the team reconsidered their signals. “It’s not the best thing that could have happened, of course but we think we have it handled,” Santos said. “In a few weeks, it should all be okay–I mean under control.”
