11 Ways In Which White People Are Racist At Work

The idea that racism stops when people get to work is very wrong. I would even argue that their racism actually gets worse when they come to work. Since it is socially unacceptable to be racist, they hide it even deeper within themselves. It then comes out in convoluted and twisted ways, but it still comes out.

In case you were wondering, below are 11 ways in which, I, a Black woman, have seen and experienced racism manifest itself in the workplace:

1. When a white boss or colleague invites a Black person to a meeting last minute and omits to share the meeting objectives and/or pre-reads with them. This puts that Black person in a position of weakness versus other team members that have had time to prepare.

2. When white people intentionally ask Black people difficult questions to humiliate or put them on the spot. This is done intentionally to take away credibility and undermine a Black person.

3. When white people engage in a conversation with another colleague when a Black person is presenting or speaking. This sends a direct message to the Black person that their work doesn’t matter/ that they don’t matter.

4. Making a Black person the only person on the leadership team without a budget or team — in short, making sure they have limited to zero power or influence. This is insidious because it creates an environment where fellow teammates can launch and implement projects while the Black person cannot. The perception then is that others on the team are doing much better than the Black person. The Black person is perceived as an underperformer. Once that sticks to you in corporate, you’re done.

5. When white people intentionally and publicly give credit to others — most often white colleagues for a Black person’s work. A very common practice to break a Black person, to make them feel worthless. Done repeatedly, this has a nefarious effect on that person’s mental health.

6. Not publicly recognizing a Black person for their good work. A bit like the point before, the sole purpose of doing this is to break a Black person.

7. Not hiring other Black people — which affects the mental health of the only Black person on the team. If you genuinely believed in diversity, you wouldn’t only have one Black person on your team, you’d know the value of diversity and behave differently. By only having one Black person, you are doing the very least required and you are also tokenizing that person as well. In this day and age, that should not happen.

8. White leaders who are racist or disrespect their Black employees encourage other team members to be racist and disrespect them too. My boss shouted at me once in front of the entire team. That just gave permission to other members of the team — including interns, to start talking down to me.

9. When white people ice out Black employees from projects— not inviting them to important meetings but expecting them to know what’s going on and blaming them for not knowing.

10. When white people gaslight Black employees when they express concern for the harassment/mobbing/racism they face in a team. Refusing to believe them and saying they are over-sensitive and emotional. One simple rule of thumb — if you feel the need to gaslight someone, chances are what they are telling you is genuine. Find solutions instead of trying to make them feel it is all in their head. It takes courage to report unacceptable behaviors, the least of things is to trust people.

11. Calling on your Black employee to give their opinion last. I had a boss like this who didn’t even realize that he always gave the floor to his favorite white employees first. People in the team realized that he prioritized those employees so they automatically had more power/influence in the team than the Black employee who always went last.

There are a lot more ways in which white employees are racist at work. Black people not only need to work, but they also need to manage this racist s*** too. It can be frankly exhausting.

As a society, we need to do better. We need to see the value in everyone in all areas including at work.

Thanks for reading my perspective.