Corporate America Wasn't Designed For Black People

By: Nina Lewis

Resource: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/corporate-america-wasnt-designed-for-black-people

I'd like to describe two people to you. Meet Brittany. She is an employee of a major corporation. Brittany attended an Ivy League university equivalent (top 20 in the world). She comes from a middle-upper class outstanding family. Brittany was taught that with a little hard work, she could go far. Brittany is a steadfast, tenacious, out of the box thinker and has integrity. Brittany is extremely friendly and likes people and wants people to like her.

Meet Jada. Jada comes from a lower middle-class family. Jada went to a good school and Jada somewhat works hard. She is extremely good looking, well liked and thus plays to her skills. Jada is part of the "in crowd", gets opportunities to highlight her skills and though she may not do the work, she has the help of leadership to ask others to get her the resources she needs, to get the job done.

Now let me ask a question. Who would you say in my scenario above is black and who would you say is not? How would you make the judgment? Their educational background? Their family background? Their ability to fit into the office culture? Well here are 5 things I have learned from working in corporate America that all stem from the following statement, "race in corporate America matters"

1. Being black comes with an unforeseen responsibility, not job responsibility, but a psychosocial responsibility

Now depending on your geographical region, this may not be a problem for you. In fact, many people have said to me: but you're British and you are in Atlanta. Why do you believe there is an issue?.

That's very true. But within my industry and certainly at my level, while I am often among many females, I am often the only person of a minority within my group and certainly within the business meetings I conduct or attend. This creates a feeling of exclusivity whereby "you have to prove yourself" to be one of the "OK" ones before being accepted into the fold.

There are also high barriers to entry into the workforce which also serve as filters, predicated on the fears of those who create them. It took me a long time to understand these fears date back to slavery and Jim Crow tactics that ultimately resulted in a sense of mistrust between the races. Being subjected to these tactics can at times quite frankly leave you angry, like the blue eye brown eye experiments. But guess what, there is a responsibility to ensure you don't come across as the angry black women/man as that would mean the barriers to entry become even more difficult for those that come behind you.

2. Being black often means you are more likely to be subjected nay vulnerable to at will laws, and bully tactics that put you at a disadvantage before you even get started.

Have you ever started somewhere and there is the one colleague who keeps to themselves but it's well known that most people just don't mingle with them? But you may not know the reason why, just that they are labeled as a "troublemakers?" I have seen this happen time and time again. Prior to working in such a specific industry, I was not always the only one of black heritage at my job.

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What I did witness was that those that "bucked" the system, who did not want to be subjected to disperate treatments predicated on the systems above were often labeled as undesirable. Often this further stigmatized the experience and isolated them from their peers. You don't want to be associated with her/him because they are a troublemaker and if you know what's good for you and don't want career death, you'll stay away. Often these individuals would have their work scrutinized to such a degree that it almost seemed like a joke especially when those who were nitpicking would have grammatical errors and spellings errors riddled throughout their own work.

What's worst in an environment where you are the only one of your race and you have not been accepted as one of the "OK" ones, but rejected, the isolation can be deafening. It can be such a traumatic experience that every email received (chime of the notification), every time your work phone rings (as you don't know what is going to come at you), you can develop what is only likened to PTSD. Not only can you be isolated, you are then traumatized too. On the flip side if you are one of the "OK" ones, you often have to distance yourself and with fewer people that look like you represented in leadership, this can lead to isolation as well.

3. Being black may also put you at other disadvantages

Now, this next one may not necessarily be a black thing but it's more a subordinate thing. I often question why some managers feel the need to bold face lie. In the scenarios I've described above, it's bad enough being isolated, it's bad enough being nitpicked at but then when lies are added to it, this is when often a workplace environment turns hostile.

The worst thing is the playing field is already stacked against employees. Prior to this snowball of cases whereby corporation in the Hollywood world is severing ties and firing the likes of Harvey Weinstein and others corporations stood behind bad people. The bullies, the sexual harassers and the sexual assaulters and, yes, the racist (at a minimum the prejudice).

This is because it's cheaper to keep the bad boss than to admit you made a mistake in your hiring choice. In fact, I think the only reason we are seeing this trend in Hollywood is that those accused and the accused are all wealthy enough to file and take on any suits that may ensue. For the regular corporations, it's difficult for them to do the same because it would open them up to liability.

4. Being black in America means you are constantly being told you are not good enough

If you look like Beyonce, you'll be fine. If you choose to wear your natural hair it may not be accepted or received in the same way. This combined with all the other barriers of not being accepted into the fold, communicates that you are simply "just not good enough".

5. Being black means you have to be twice2 as good, and often work five times as hard

This is pretty self-explanatory, but when I see a person of color in positions of leadership, I know that not only have they passed the psychosocial barriers and exhibit all the traits* that make them "OK", but they've had to be smarter, work faster and harder than anyone else in their league. The only time this may not be true is if they are a legacy child or just plain lucky.

Now I can hear you say that I know people of different races that have experienced this thus it's not just a black issue. Now I get the need to "all lives matter the situation" however, I truly believe that when black America (or those of low socioeconomic mean) catch/(es) a cold, all of America catches the flu. You have seen it with the drug epidemic that's ongoing and with police brutality. Now don't get me wrong, I do believe that "all lives matter." However, what happens to the least of us in society when we fail to focus and notice injustices going on around us will eventually happen to the majority of us. I believe as corporations get more competitive and with each impending recession, we will see more of these issues becoming rampant across corporations in America.

*educated, articulate, non-threatening, and cultured.

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