Showing posts with label working while black. Show all posts

Yesterday was Old School Friday and the theme was “Hard Day at Work”. Little did I know just how prophetic my DMX pick would be for the day on my side of the plantation. But, I’m going to admit that I was completely to blame for the type of day I had. Hell! I’m completely to blame for the last years.

I haven’t learned in my 56 years of life and 35 years of employment when to keep my mouth shut. I haven’t learned that having a college education along with a pretty impressive professional title does not entitle me to have an opinion. I haven’t learned to stay in my place and to never question those to whom I report or to definitely NOT disagree. I haven’t learned to “Just Be Glad that I Have a Job” rule. I haven’t learned that no matter what I say or do that I will always be discounted and characterized as “the angry Black woman” in the room.

So, I’m going to do all in my power to do everything I can to simply keep my mouth shut. I will stand by silently as those in authority lie. I will wholeheartedly nod my head in agreement as those who voice differing opinions, question, or don’t cow-tow to the powers are systematically targeted for unemployment. I will sit idly by as covert harassment and intimidation are enforced to cover the butts of those in charge. I will stop calling it like I see it when obvious manipulations and maneuverings are occurring. I will do all in my power to know and stay in my place.

As a colleague told me recently “It ain’t gotta make sense. I just gotta make sure I get my check”. But, my Mother always says “Right is Right and Right Don’t Wrong Nobody”. So, if my Mother is right and my colleague is also right – what do I do and still be able to live with myself?

Obliged to you for hearing me,
and now old SjP ain't got nothin' more to say...
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
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Just read a very interesting and provocative article by Sophia A. Nelson, is a corporate attorney and president of iask, Inc., an organization for African American professional women. The article, entitled "Black. Female. Accomplished. Attacked." I took particular interest in this article starting with its title and then this reference to Sojourner Truth:

"Ain't I a woman?" Sojourner Truth famously asked 157 years ago. Her ringing question, demanding why black women weren't accorded the same privileges as their white counterparts, still sums up the African American woman's dilemma today: How are we viewed as women, and where do we fit into American life?

I encourage you to read this article in its entirety. Amazing insights and truism that will no doubt continue to ring unless and until the perceptions of African American women changes. I include in this post a few excerpts to wet your whistle:

A 2007 American Bar Association report titled "Visible Invisibility" describes how black women in the legal profession face the "double burden" of being both black and female, meaning that they enjoy none of the advantages that black men gain from being male, or that white women gain from being white.

At a recent such workshop, I asked the participants to list some words that would describe how they believe they're viewed in the workplace and the culture at large. These are the kinds of words that came back: "loud," "angry," "intimidating,""mean," "opinionated," "aggressive," "hard." All painful words. Yet asked to describe themselves, the same women offered gentler terms: "strong," "loving,""dependable," "compassionate."

As of 2007, according to the New YorkTimes, 70 percent of professional black women were unmarried. Black women are five times more likely than white women to be single at age 40. In 2003, Newsweek reported that there are more black women than black men (24 percent to 17 percent) in the professional-managerial class. According to Department of Education statistics cited by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, black women earn 67 percent of all bachelor's degrees awarded to blacks, as well as 71 percent of all master's degrees and 65 percent of all doctoral degrees.

Speak the Truth!

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old SjP ain't got nothing more to say.

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A few posts ago, I told you about The Black Factor, a blog by s. mary wills. Her's is a powerful blog - so powerful that I've placed a headline link on Sojourner's Place, so you can get to her blog quickly.

In her two-part series entitled Stripped of Assignment, she offers valuable advise and steps to take to do to protect yourself. But I encourage you to read the full articles: list. Have You Been Stripped of Your Assignments? and Stripped of Assignments-Part 2

Here are the 14 steps in brief:

And y'all
Holla Back!

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Feb 5 2008 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

A VICTIM of bullying, “Ms X” left a Tees Valley company with no alternative employment prospects. But the experience ultimately made her stronger.

“I didn’t even realise that I was being bullied until after I’d left the company. It was done in such a discreet, clever way, at regular intervals over a lengthy period of time.

“The management operated a blame culture and would never accept responsibility, always shifting the focus on to the employee.

“The worst bit about the bullying was being humiliated in public. This would happen on a regular basis, sometimes as often as once a week.

“The bullying affected my health. I suffered from high blood pressure, couldn’t sleep at night, my weight increased and I used to cry a lot. I took a couple of days off sick with stress. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the experience changed my whole personality.

“In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t accepted so readily my employer’s explanations of certain situations. Quite often they would come up with reasons that simply didn’t add up. Rather than challenge them, I’d just accept it for the sake of keeping the peace.

“I also wish that I’d been more aware of employment law. I used to read about people who had taken their employer to tribunal but never thought it would happen to me.

“Looking back, perhaps my behaviour did influence their treatment of me. I’m a naturally talkative individual but my boss rarely appreciated my input. Once I was described as a disruptive influence and was moved away from the person I was sitting next to at the time.

“On another occasion I was hauled in to a formal meeting for sending an email to my friend about a work colleague. It really was like being back at school.

“I was so miserable that I decided to leave without another job to go to. It made no financial sense but I knew I’d feel happier in myself.

“Fortunately, after doing some temporary work I received a few offers of work and now I run my own business. I probably wouldn’t have made such a bold step if I hadn’t left my previous employment.

“A good thing has come out of this experience. Thanks to my former employer, I’ve become a much stronger person and nobody would ever bully me again.” > > >SjP's truth continues

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I don't know how you feel about it - but me, when I hear my colleagues say "qualified minorities" I want to go into a real hizzy-fit. What the hell does that mean? Does that mean that ONLY minorities need to be qualified to be considered? More than not, it means that if you are a minority - and specifically AFRICAN-AMERICAN - you have to be over qualified to be considered! You have to literally WALK ON WATER!

As far as I'm concerned this is a "qualifier" used to maintain the status quo of discrimination, racism, and sexism not only in the workplace but in just about every aspect of our lives. Just look at what's happening in the Democratic Presidential campaign with the two front runners.

So, here's what we have. A white woman whose qualifications are never questioned. A white man whose qualifications are never questioned. And a Black man whose qualifications are always questioned. Now, aren't all three of them attorneys? Are all three of them current or former members of the US Senate? OK - Obama is younger and was never the First Lady of a State or the United States; and he has yet to be donned a Vice Presidential candidate - but does that make him less qualified to be the Presidential Nominee of the Democratic Party? Or President of the United States? It would be interesting to know what "qualifiers" would be used if Barack was not African-American.

I don't know, but I just get tired of the continued use of buzz words and phrases that are used to make our lives in the workplace more difficult. But, I do know this - in the event that Barack gets the nomination, he damn sure better win the White House because if he doesn't , the Democrats will say "we tried to hire a black - but he just didn't work out." If he gets in his ratings go even lower than our current President's - Lord Forbid - then America will no doubt say "See! Told you America wasn't ready for a Black President!" And if that happens and you think your workplace is bad now - JUST WAIT!! > > >SjP's truth continues

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Did you know that your salary is nearly as much on average as your white counterparts! Girl, you are really doing it! According to this week's report of earnings - we only make $100 less than white women. That ain't bad!!! Now of course, our brothers did not do as well this quarter as they make about $200 less than their counterparts.

The statistics are amazing if not dreadful! Its hard to believe that a white man makes damn near as much money on average as a Black couple. According to the report, White men earn about $800 per week. Black men earn about $600 and Black women earn just over $500 weekly. Now that adds up to $1100 a week, just $300 less than what a white male earns by himself. And if that white man is married to a white woman - well they're bringing home - on average 1400 *#*#* dollars per week! Somethings wrong with that picture!

Now think about it. How much do the white counterparts with whom you work make? If you're world is like mine - you probably bring home a nice chunk of change - but your counterpart is probably bringing home a nice bundle of dollars! And I bet she's either younger, less experienced, and less educated than you are!

Anyway - here's an excerpt from the article regarding the report. The link to the article is below as well as the link to the full governmental report.

Median earnings for black men working at full-time jobs were $599 per week, 74.9 percent of the median for white men ($800). The difference was less among women, as black women's median earnings ($539) were 85.3 percent of those for their white counterparts ($632). Overall, median earnings of Hispanics who worked full time ($507) were lower than those of blacks ($574), whites ($722) and Asians ($856).


Article
Report

And Asians make more money than everybody! Maybe we should have gone into the nail and hair business!

Holla Back! > > >SjP's truth continues

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Despite decades of civil-rights progress, workers’ complaints are rising

Many of us are marveling at how seemingly far our society has come given a man with an African American heritage is being considered a serious candidate for president. But in the workplace, attitudes toward many black workers are anything but inspiring.

Racial harassment is up to record levels in offices and factories across the country, and we’re not talking just the use of the “N” word. Racist graffiti, Klu Klux Klan propaganda and even physical threats including the display of hangman’s nooses are included among the intimidation tools.

“It is shocking that such egregious and unlawful conduct toward African American employees is still occurring, even increasing, in the 21st century workplace, more than 40 years after enactment of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964,” says David Grinberg, spokesman for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, also known as the EEOC.

Full article
By Eve Tahmincioglu MSNBC contributor
updated 6:24 p.m. PT, Sun., Jan. 13, 2008

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The sixth annual “Black Women on Wall Street” event, held June 19 at Merrill Lynch headquarters in New York City, attracted top African-American women in the financial services industry to discuss career strategies for advancement to the corporate boardroom. Co-sponsored by Merrill Lynch and the Executive Leadership Council, a nonprofit leadership organization for senior level African-American executives in the Fortune 500, the event attracted about 350 minority women professionals. Merrill Lynch chairman and CEO Stan O'Neal – a member of the Executive Leadership Council – offered the opening words and reiterated his company’s commitment to diversity, and then noting the power of networking as a “key element of success for all executives, but especially for women of color.”

Full article
Published: September 12, 2007 in Knowledge@Emory > > >SjP's truth continues

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NPR Tell Me More
January 7, 2008

White women are making far greater strides in the workplace than their African-American female counterparts, according to a recent report. Denise Beckles, a corporate diversity educator, is joined by Cynthia Good, CEO and co-owner of Pink magazine, and Carol Evans, CEO and president of Working Mother Media, to discuss how to level the playing field.

Entire NPR Broadcast > > >SjP's truth continues

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They take my kindness for weakness. They take my silence for speechless. They consider my uniqueness strange. They call my language slang. They see my confidence as conceit. They see my mistakes as defeat. They consider my success accidental. They minimize my intelligence to "potential". My questions mean "I'm unaware". My advancement is somehow unfair. Any praise is preferential treatment. To voice concern is discontentment. If I stand up for myself, I'm too defensive. If I don't trust them, I'm too apprehensive. I'm defiant if I separate. I'm fake if I assimilate. Yet, constantly I am faced with work place hate. My character is constantly under attack. Pride for my race makes me, "TOO BLACK".

Yet, I can only be me. And, who am I you ask?

I am that Strong Black Person [Woman]. Who stands on the backs of my ancestor's achievements, with an erect spine pointing to the stars with pride, dignity and lets the work place in America know, that I not only ability to play by the rules, but I can make them as well!

Black History 365
~Arthur Unknown ~ > > >SjP's truth continues

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