Being Black in Corporate America

After graduating college I’ve had a couple jobs as both a contractor and a permanent employ, which turned out to be great experiences. I learned a lot from the environments I have been in and I know that it’s harder being Black in Corporate America. From experience you’re already at a disadvantage because of your skin color. They assume you really don’t know anything and they put you in a bucket of assumptions they created about black people. This bucket is just filled with society’s fears, feelings and thoughts about our community. So they throw the bucket on the table and start attaching these things immediately to you.

When you are educated it strikes fear in Corporate America because it lets them know that you really won’t take shit. I have been in a bunch of situations where I know more then the people I worked with but had to work twice as hard to get my point across. They may not go with my point but I never back down in letting them know why my point is more relevant then someone else’s. I stay professional as possible because the moment you break is the moment that they attach something from the bucket to you. The moment they label you as the angry black employee. 

The moment that you show that your a different breed of person is the moment that people feel scared. The moment that someone can’t have power over you because you have proven yourself and continue to prove yourself. I told one of my co-workers at my previous job that I had to work twice as hard as him to get where I needed to be. He told me it doesn’t make sense because they have rules against that. Yes some places have diversity programs but sometimes that is just a smokescreen to make it feel like they are handling the issue. It’s not obvious when it’s being done so rules may not apply to certain situations. 

Any time I get into a corporate environment I learn human resource policies and who exactly to talk to when situations arise. Personally I feel it’s good to know your environment and the laws of the land. This will prevent any situation getting out of hand. Corporate America is literally a cutthroat place for people of color in general because if you don’t fit a certain mold you can’t advance where you need to be. You may have 3 times the skills of someone else of non-color but that one mess up you did 2 years ago will hold you back from being great, over the 5 mess ups this person recently had.

What keeps me motivated is to keep pushing to be better then everyone around me. As long as you are killing them with a smile and kind words they will never have anything to say against you. Be as professional as possible and your time will come. Everything falls into place at the right time and people will acknowledge your greatness as soon as you save them from drowning. 

"Diversity is about all of us, and about us having to figure out how to walk through this world together" - Jacqueline Woodson