"I thought it was my duty to teach them how to beguile their way through a professional world steeped in racism so they could be successful. I was wrong."From the ages of 22 to 24, I was a teacher. I taught professional communication at a high school in an affluent, mainly white suburb of Houston. The school had over 3,500 students, and about 6% of them were Black, and of the over 200 teachers, only about five of us were Black .
Everyone can be complicit in perpetuating our white supremacy culture. Non-Black people can be complicit because they may not realize how deeply rooted racism is and they may not realize their actions that contribute to the perpetuation of our unequal treatment. Black people can also be complicit because, although we likely see the deep-seated racism, we also may internalize it. We may see this as the way things must be, accepting it and doing what we can to find ways around it.
I taught you what I was taught: Communication is a method for survival. I emphasized it to you, that it’s imperative for us, as Black people, to be able to communicate effectively. My argument was that if they can understand us, they will have no choice but to see our humanity. And if we communicate in the predetermined “proper” way, then they’ll have no choice but to view us as equals. But as we all know, I was wrong.
aving either implicit or explicit racist views about names doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Even though you got the job, the hiring manager could still continue to discriminate against other Black applicants. Plus, the racism likely wouldn’t end in the hiring process. When I told you this, we should have unpacked how ingrained racism is in the professional world. Instead, I told you to take it as a lesson for why it’s imperative to code-switch.
By saying this I was effectively making systemic racism your problem to overcome within the span of an hourlong conversation. I was implying you had to dispel any racial biases the interviewer might have, communicate better and be twice as charming as all the other applicants just to be in the running.