The corporate world can be challenging for anyone and everyone. The hours are long; The professional setting itself can be uncomfortable and stifling; You may even have to deal with awful management. It’s all just a long journey until you finally make it to the weekend to recoup, and then start all over again. There are challenges in the corporate world everyone has to face. However, there are unique challenges people of color have to face on a day-to-day basis that their white counterparts don’t have to deal with.
One of the very first issues black people have to deal with in the corporate world is feeling isolated. This does not apply to every company, especially those with more diversity; however, lack of diversity in companies is all too common. Black people will have to deal with the reality of being one of the few people of color at their job.
In many cases, this requires sacrificing who you are just to fit in and not feel isolated. Many black people hide their full personality and culture in order to fit in with their white colleagues. Unfortunately, even these measures are not enough to resolve the feelings of isolation. Even though there will be moments you really feel like you’re fitting in, those moments are fleeting.
When a person only appreciates the side you choose to show rather than the real you, the feeling of isolation still remains. No matter how hard you may attempt to fit in, there is still a nagging sense that something isn’t quite right. No matter how hard you attempt to fit in, whether you are smart, clever or funny, you will never truly fit in. An excellent quote by Kanye in his song ‘My Way’ encompasses this point in which he states, “treat us like we almost white…almost..” No matter what steps black people take to earn their seat at the table – shout out to Solange – it is never quite enough.
The next issue many black people may face in the corporate environment is feeling a lack of self-worth. There is often stereotypes black people face when in a predominantly white work place or institution in general. In many situations, black people are constantly fighting to prove they were not simply a product of affirmative action; rather they were hired based on their skillset and work ethic, not their skin color.
It is a constant battle for black people to prove their worth in being hired. Constant battles wear anyone down and are not always obvious; many times the battles come in the form of microaggressions. Microaggressions, are everyday slights, snubs, or insults which communicate negativity towards a person based solely on their membership of a marginalized minority group.
Examples of this include being referred to as articulate even when using what you consider standard vernacular at the job; superiors not putting you in situations they believe to be too mentally strenuous; an inappropriate racist side joke. Even well-meaning compliments in which someone attempts to prove their appreciation of black people or black culture serve as a reminder that the black person is essentially an outsider.
Many black people deal with microaggressions every day and it becomes somewhat of normality. No black person has ever made it to a top profession without conceding certain aspects of their own dignity at different points in their lives. More likely than not, black people who attain a certain level of success see less black people as they attain more success. There will be many settings in which a black person may be the only minority or one of a few.
This is why many black people become near experts at code switching. Code-switching is the practice of alternating between two or more languages or a variety of languages in conversation. However, in most cases today, it is the practice of how we speak with different cultures.
Most working people code switch on a daily basis between their casual manner of speaking and their professional manner of speaking. The way a black person may speak around their family and friends, more often than not, has to be translated into acceptable white vernacular or as some would call it the “interview” voice. This is not to say black people are incapable of using proper grammar in natural conversation, but they do have to go to additional lengths to appease their white counterparts.
More often than not black people in white corporate environments are put in uncomfortable situations as a result of their blackness. They are constantly forced to be mindful of their interactions to an extent their white counterparts do not.
White people do face their own set of challenges in the corporate environment as well. Many white women will go through microaggressions everyday as a result of their gender and natural biases against women. White people with thicker dialects, especially from the south, usually are required to minimize their natural accent in the professional setting.
The difference between the issues that black and white people have to deal with is that black people are required to deal with all aforementioned issues under the cloud of race as well. More often than not, in a corporate environment, a black person is one of only a few black people at the job and most of upper management is likely to be white as well. Black people are constantly being judged in the workplace — from teenager working their first job at a fast food restaurant to the President of the United States. It is proof that no matter how successful a black person becomes, their blackness will always be an issue.
