>>
>>Can I get a witness!?
>>
>>
>>1. A coworker sees you and several black colleagues at casual lunch.
>>Back at the office she ask, what was that meeting all about?"
>>2. You arrive at work on time as usual. Your boss, making her rounds,
>>peeks in and remarks with surprise, "Oh you're here!"
>>3. A colleague says with abroad smile, You know I really like you. When
>>I see you, I don't see color. I don't think of you as black."
>>4. After a staff meeting, your boss suggests, "you need to work at
>>making others more comfortable with you...why don't you smile more often?"
>>5. You tell your manager about a problem you are having and the response
>>you get is "You got to be exaggerating! I find that hard to believe."
>>6. You are told you are "rough around the edges" despite your completion
>>of many professional development programs and it is suggested you
>>emulate the behavior of a non person of color colleague.
>>7. You continually get more responsibility, but no authority.
>>8. You are being recognized at a company banquet. As you approach the
>>stage to receive your company's highest achievement award, your
>>corporations' top executive exclaims, " Yo homeboy, congratulations"
>>9. You arrive at an offsite business retreat dressed in business casual
>>attire. Your non persons of color peers approach and ask why you are
>>always so dressed up?
>>10. You are told you are decreasing your effectiveness with your
>>aggressive style.
>>11. You are frequently asked why you change your hairstyle so often.
>>12. Your first name is arbitrarily shortened to one or two syllables
>>without your permission.
>>13. You are asked every summer if black people tan.
>>14. After a coworker returns from a weekend in the sun, they run to you
>>on Monday morning and extend their arms to touch yours and say, " hey
>>I'm darker than you".
>>15. Walking through the hall with colleagues, you exchange greetings
>>with two other blacks you pass along the way. Your colleague says in
>>amazement," My you know so many people."
>>16. You are told your attitude is affecting others. You are asked
>>to...'lighten up, not be so serious about the work. Smile and laugh more
>>often, to make others more comfortable working with you".
>>17. You realize that at times you must "dumb down" appearing to be
>>dependent and unaware, so that your manager and peers feel they are
>>helping you...
>>18. You have to perform at 250% just to stay even.
>>19. You have to document everything. You've learned the hard way.
>>20. You presumed that all that was required of you was to work hard and
>>get the job done.
>
>Brenda Gayle Plummer
>University of Wisconsin-Madison
If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have
freed thousands more. -- Harriet Tubman
========================================================
Nathaniel Harwell
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