I came face to face with racism at my job last week. In a private call with a senior colleague whose project I was overseeing, we were discussing the availability of three candidates, a white woman, a black man, and a white man. I was strongly advised that the white woman “needed a tight rein” the black man “my impression is that he might not be creative enough” and the white man was the preferred choice - I should go ahead and make those emails. I was completely caught off guard that these words were coming out of this white colleagues mouth. I was literally speechless. I need to do better, I need to be better, I’m sorry, and next time I won’t be caught off guard.
It's so hard in the moment. Who gets to decide on the outcome? is he just making recommendations? Or does he get to decide?
ReplyDeleteSadly, I have no say in the outcome, I'm just managing her project. Going forward I want to limit/avoid these "private" calls so that there is more accountability/transparency. I can make sure that teams I assemble on projects are as diverse and as inclusive as possible, and looking into ways to be more of an advocate/ally at my job.
DeleteI avoid calls for this very reason - I want a record of everything to cover my own ass. At my work we got a racist/sexist boss demoted (sadly not fired) for his comments and harassment of workers. It's stupid that I work at a very prominent University in California and that guy did not get shit-canned.
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