Small Doses

by Amanda Seales

  The time to choose sides is now. And by sides I mean will you be on the side of truth and fact, or comfort and cognitive dissonance? Some fancy themselves open-minded by supporting the right for everyone to have an “opinion” without regard for the fact that opinions become laws, which affect people’s lives and, literally, the world. So, an unchecked problematic opinion is more than just someone’s annoying notion, it is the seed from which grows future problems! When it comes to race, most issues are not a matter of opinion—they are a matter of right and wrong, ethical or unethical, civil or uncivil. The same pens that signed this country into nationhood were dipped in the blood of slaves to sign their lives away. Those pens wrote the book on American race relations, and since it is without merit or value we must burn it and do our best to rewrite it.

  SIDE EFFECTS OF

  Race in the Workplace

  Tryna get paid ain’t just about skill

  You’ve got to master your job,

  and your job’s people.

  Race in the workplace can be

  a bitch to navigate

  They don’t make it easy to keep

  your identity while you integrate.

  CULTURE CLASH

  The workplace can be a landscape that not only forces various personalities to work together, but one that also creates a place where cultures collide. In America, far too often, the side effects of centuries of white supremacy play out in ways that unfairly demand adjustments be made by individuals who, based on their race/culture, are not the beneficiaries of white supremacy. In other words, folks who benefit from white privilege do things on the regular that folks who don’t benefit from white privilege have to adjust to, not because it’s more efficient, or practical, but simply because the way this country is set up, white is still “right.” When people are distracted they have less time, energy, and attention to pay to being on point, effective, and focused on their actual job.

  TOKENISM

  When you are the only nonwhite person in a room you know it, and it can be uncomfortable when your coworkers always point it out. You become “the other” or “the voice,” which are both side effects of being “The Token.” The Token is the one person of color who, by simply existing in the setting, meets a quota for diversity.

  If you are considered “The Other,” you are treated like a different species. It’s as if the people you work with don’t realize that you’re a person, too. They view you with arm’s-length curiosity and nervousness. They fear you like an alien they’ve not yet decided is friend or foe. They keep you in a space of your own that they qualify based on your difference in race/culture/ethnicity.

  If you are “The Voice,” you are treated like the all-knowing, all-encompassing speaker for your ethnicity/culture regardless of whether that is your area of academic expertise. You are looked to as the ambassador out of the white bubble. It is unfair and uncomfortable. You know when folks say “I have black friends”? They’re talking about you.

  The flip is that some folks just LOVE being the Token. They like the attention. They feel empowered. They seem irreplaceable. Well, I hate to break it to you, you’re none of those things. You’re a mascot for your demographic, and the office has you dancing at the game. If you’re the only person of color in your office then your office is doing a piss-poor job at recruitment!

  ON BEING BLACK FAMOUS

  Once we step into certain spaces we are playing a game that never ever included us and actively works to keep us excluded. First, the white supremacy gatekeepers will come at you with the shit you know you did wrong but that never really mattered because you didn’t matter. They will utilize it in an attempt to dismantle the crystal stair that you have built to break through their ceiling. Don’t allow it. Instead, let them “allow” you to demonstrate your humility. Let them “allow” you to enforce intellectualism. Let them “allow” you to connect with new people, and new ideas, and new ways that you may not have been forced to deal with before. Flip their shit by using your wrongs to right. The wrongs you know you did wrong are the easiest to correct. So save your energy. They’re going to come with ones that have been conjured out of wickedness that you can’t even imagine and you will have to have magic left over to figure out the way to fight those.

  REFERRAL BASED BIAS (RBB)

  Which brings us to RBB. I once sat next to an exec who lamented that his marketing department lacked diversity because they hire based on referral, and he said that he did not know any—ANY—people of color in his line of work. His colleagues—SOMEHOW—also did not know any people of color. So, he kept being referred the same types of people with the same backgrounds. I took a sip of my Shirley Temple and gathered my face before asking him the obvious question: “Have you tried looking outside of your circle of WASP colleagues?” He said, “I wouldn’t know where to start.” This laissez-faire attitude toward diversity is a bunch of bullshit, and it cannot be considered acceptable. Intention is simply not good enough if it is not supported by action. Diversity improves business. Fact. So, it should be a mandate that hiring is based on diversity and inclusion, and this should be carried forth by those with hiring power. These same companies will claim they’re diverse for having a gay white guy on staff, or because they have a woman CEO, but let’s cut the crap, the truth is not only do they not want to be bothered going out of their immediate circle, they’re worried and fearful that if they do, they’ll hire a nightmare who is trash at their job, and not be able to fire them for fear of being sued for discrimination OR they’ll hire someone awesome, and it will completely undermine the lie they’ve bought into that says their PWI Ivy education and white skin make them superior.

  PASSIVE AGGRESSION AS PROFESSIONALISM

  White women have been protected. They were positioned as the companion to white men, and are an essential part of continuing the legacy of white money, thus, they must be protected. For centuries their male counterparts “preserved” them in their homes as nonvoting homemakers, where social expectations forced them to use passive means to achieve their wants, for talking loud and out of turn was no way for a genteel ladylike woman to behave. Eventually, white women broke the seal, and gained the right to their money, their government, and their independence. However, old habits are hard to break, and the passive aggression that was used in the home transferred to the office, and eventually became the standard practice of professionalism for many white women. Tactics like tears, manipulation, and straight-up lying are far too often considered just “a part of doing business.” Well, white women, it’s time you knew THAT THIS IS ANNOYING AS HELL AND NEEDS TO STOP. Not sure what I’m talking about? Here are a couple common infractions that are driving a person of color or a woman who happens to be white in your office CRAZY as we speak:

  1. Going to the supervisor behind folks’ backs: If you have a problem, it does not always need to be brought to the supervisor. That is the corporate version of calling the cops.

  2. Changing the schedule without conferring first: We’re all adults with full lives. If you’ve already confirmed, do not make decisions about someone else’s life without the respect of having a conversation. That is the corporate version of still tryna be “massa.”

  3. CCing hella folks that don’t belong on the email: I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING, AND YOU AIN’T SLICK. But when shit goes down and they ask for an explanation, it’s gonna be the corporate version of me, on the day after Christmas, at the customer service desk, WITH RECEIPTS.

  BLACKGUISTICS

  It is a little-known fact to folks outside of the black community that most of us who work in corporate America or any predominantly white space are a specific kind of bilingual. We have had to learn how to speak on the block and in the boardroom. Aside from the basic concept of what is considered “proper English” versus African American Vernacular English, culturally, black folks deal with things in a more direct fashion than the passive aggression that corporate America has come to call “professionalism.” For many of us, it ta
kes actual skill and effort to perfect and navigate the often murky waters of white tears, and it is admittedly exhausting. Some simple translations for those stepping into the work arena:

  • “Please advise” really means, “You got us into this bullshit. So, now it’s on you to get us out.”

  • “Per my previous email” really means, “I guess you gon’ just ignore the fact that I already said this, huh?”

  • “I hope all is well” really means, “I’m trying to be polite before I roast you with a Columbia curse-out*.”

  WHITE PEOPLE STOP DOIN’ THIS SHIT

  • Touching people’s hair or asking to touch people’s hair.

  • Asking, “What are you?”

  • Using a “black woman’s affect” when speaking, such as, “You go, girl!”

  • Referring to your inner black woman when you are not.

  • Expecting people to educate you on their culture without having educated yourself.

  • Complaining about the smell of someone’s ethnic cuisine.

  • Assuming everyone had the same upbringing as you.

  • Asking, “What did you do this weekend?”*†

  • Asking for a play-by-play of why my hair looks different this week.

  BLACK PEOPLE STOP DOIN’ THIS SHIT

  • Letting your coworkers make you the representative of your culture.

  • Straightening your hair because you think it looks more “professional.”

  • Selling out your fellow black coworkers to white upper management to curry favor!

  • Apologizing for your blackness.

  GEM DROPPIN’

  Diversity vs. What Folks Think Is Diversity

  WITH THE RECENT GROWTH OF MOVEMENTS like #timesup, #metoo, and #blacklivesmatter, certain buzzwords have taken hold in the corporate space. Just as quickly as urban did in the ’90s—btw, urban as a synonym for communities of black and brown people is offensive and inaccurate, so if you’re a part of the last bastion of people still using it, stop—these words have taken root and in the process they’ve also lost their value. Oftentimes, the value is lost in the misapplication of not only words but intent. Diversity went from a potent word that meant “making sure a staff is not filled up with just white people” to being watered down, literally, by white people. Yes, marginalized groups of white people said, “Wait a minute! We should be a part of diversity, too!” The thing is, there is a different word for making sure that all voices are heard versus making sure that discriminated groups are represented. That word is inclusion.

  Folks think diversity is about simply making sure that there isn’t only one point of view in the room. This may seem like something very easy to achieve, but when Fortune reported in February 2014 that just over 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs at that time were minorities, and there were only twenty-four women CEOs in the Fortune 500, it’s easy to see how that could require a concerted effort. As we see with movements like #timesup, it’s no different in the entertainment space. The bottom-line, go-to voice is still the straight white man’s. Since business is so much about who you know, that cycle can keep continuing if there are not mandates, personal interest, or financial or political gain attached to changing it. When I talk about what people think diversity is I am working to widen that space and broaden that POV to include voices that, although they may not be the same as a straight white male, might still have access to some of the privilege he enjoys. Folks is gonna be tight in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . but being a white woman in a room of white men is not an example of diversity. Folks is gonna be BIG mad in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . . but being a white gay man in a room of white straight men is not an example of diversity. The gag is, so many people are so accustomed to the rigid roles of representation that they’ve seen for so long that simply meeting the terms of inclusion of any “others” feels like an arduous stretch of comfort that looks like diversity. Keep stretching. Change does not stop at simply including other white people who are not straight white men—that’s where change begins.

  Ahh . . . “Diversity.” You see it all the time: “Diversity Seminar!,” “Diversity Showcase!,” “Diversity Condoms!” Okay, maybe not the last one, but brothas will absolutely tell you that because of their length/girth they require a special brand . I digress. The word diversity has been used so much, so often, that its meaning began to diversify depending on who was using it. Returning it to center, diversity is about giving representation to individuals of marginalized racial and ethnic backgrounds. As unreal as race is (race, like gender, is a completely human social construct that does not have any root in science), it does have real consequences. America continues to uphold and enable systems that provide less resources for, discriminate against, and target individuals simply based on the color of their skin. In addition, the nation that once boasted of borders welcoming the world’s poor and its hungry is now riddled with xenophobia that too often throws a side-eye and an accusatory finger at ethnic communities. With affirmative action no longer in place to ensure the balancing of the playing field by law, it is up to companies/schools to consider diversity a priority on their own. Some go as far as hiring an actual person in the position of enforcing diversity as a mandate. Others have scholarships and programs. But the fact is, diversity is often simply a buzzword applied by folks who either don’t really know how to or even see real value in diversifying their ranks/halls but more so see the value in looking like they do. Diversity as performance.

  The clarification of what diversity is not petty. It is important. The main reason is that spaces reserved for purposes of increasing and fostering diversity are being diluted with folks who do not require the same level of assistance and inclusivity to break through. White women, LGBTQ white men and women, disabled white men and women all deserve inclusion and to be a part of the conversation. However, their involvement is not an example of diversity. Though they are a part of different societal groups than the majority leadership, their access to white privilege is still very actual and factual in comparison to their racial and ethnically diverse counterparts. Again, this is not to say that women, as well as the LGBTQ community, have not been oppressed, suppressed, and distressed by the powers that be in this country. They absolutely have, and their points of view should be represented and heard resoundingly. However, diversity is about opening a previously unopened door to groups of people who have been disenfranchised and silenced, simply because of their race and/or ethnicity. The argument is made all the time, and it is still valid, that you shouldn’t have to, but you can hide your sexuality. Most people of African descent cannot hide their melanin, some ethnic groups can’t mask the specificity of their facial features, most polylinguists can’t dampen the accent of their first language trickling through like an unclosed tap filling up their identity. Because of that they are facing not only the obstacles caused by lack of inclusion but the impediment of homegrown, still-established, and supported discrimination that requires direct, nondiluted, undisrupted efforts in order to be combatted.

  There is a specific conversation to be had about the marginalization of culture and ethnicity versus gender and sexuality. Though intersectionality does exist in the ways the groups are discriminated against, there are UNIQUE nuances to each and the experiences associated with them. That said, the inconvenient truth for some is that diversity is not simply everyone who isn’t a straight white male. If you are different, you deserve inclusion. But real talk: If you benefit from white privilege, and you’re taking space away from those who don’t, you are a diversion from the implementation of diversity. When you try to make a safe space for everyone, you end up making a safe space for no one.

  Lights! Camera! Black Girls?

  THAT ONE TIME

  When you’re not white, and you work in predominantly white spaces, race is consistently top of mind. Perhaps it’s because you’re the designated “representative” for your particular group, or because you have to be conscious at all times that you’re not falling into a ne
gative stereotype, or maybe it’s because you work with racist-ass people. I remember when I was just out of college working at Sirius Satellite Radio and I said to someone, “I’m not sure if they have the whip but we can bounce in a minute.” A young white woman overheard and chimed in, “Why do you always have to speak ‘hip-hop talk’?” It’s moments like this that keep race at the top of mind when you’re simply just trying to do your job so you can live your best life. When we speak of privilege that is one that we are referring to. The white privilege of not having to wonder if your race or ethnicity is “showing too much.”

  As a black actress in Hollywood, or a blacktress, as I call us, race is so attached to us that we never get a break from it. Aside from the obvious of having to be hyper conscious of how we are being represented on the page, we also have to be aware of how we look when we make it to the screen. This shows up in addressing lighting and making sure that it is properly adjusted to our melanated skin tones. It shows up in our wardrobe and making sure we are wearing clothes that are flattering to our varied and culturally curvy shapes. However, I’m sure many blacktresses would agree that it shows up most in dealing with hair and makeup.

  I cannot tell you how many times I have come to a set and had a makeup artist do that white woman with the algebra meme right in front of my face as she attempts to figure out how she’s gonna make my light brown skin look right for the camera, with all them peach tones she has on her palette. On the melanin scale, unless I’ve just recently returned from Grenada, I’m more often than not on the beiger side of pale, compared to my richer-toned sistas. Nonetheless, I find myself in a standoff with someone who knows full well they don’t have the tools or the skills to simply do my makeup. You would think, “Well didn’t they know that I was coming in?” The answer is probably no. You may ask, “But wouldn’t they just have it in their kit anyway?” The answer again is no. Because this industry is still so overwhelmingly white, when there is someone of color it is considered a break from the norm. So unless they’ve been alerted, they don’t bring out their special “brown girl kit.” Even if they have the kit, it’s not like they get to practice much. So the odds of your foundation matching your hands are slim, honey. Then they be trying to put it on your ears and all down your neck to make it look all one shade. Stop the madness. You’ll say, “I’d like it natural” and they take that to mean, no foundation, just eye shadow, then feel a way when you say, “This is not what I meant.” I had a makeup artist tell me, “In my professional opinion, you don’t need concealer under your eyes.” In that moment, I no longer trusted her professional opinion. EVERYONE ON TV NEEDS CONCEALER. Unless you are supposed to look tired or sick or high, or you are the 12 percent who have miraculously flawless under eyes, YOU NEED CONCEALER. Period. There is not enough of a push to make sure that makeup artists are able to do the makeup of a range of skin tones, and artists are not necessarily lauded for their versatility. The true reality is, as a black-tress, if you’re not on a show that is considered diverse, or that has regular makeup artists that know your skin and tones, we must always call ahead to make sure that the makeup artist is not only equipped in tools but in skills. Regardless, just to be safe, learn how to do your makeup and always walk with your own kit.