avatarG Correia

Summary

An African American employee recounts experiencing intense racism and eventual wrongful termination from a boss who inherited him in an all-white organization.

Abstract

The employee describes a hostile work environment where he faced constant racial microaggressions and overt racism from his new boss, who was determined to remove him from the company. Despite his efforts to remain professional and focused on his work, the employee was subjected to a barrage of personal insults, threats, and inappropriate comments from his boss, culminating in an explosive outburst that led to his termination. The boss's behavior was part of a calculated plan to push the employee out, as evidenced by emails that surfaced later, revealing the boss's aggressive campaign to have the employee fired. The incident underscores the challenges and injustices faced by people of color in predominantly white workplaces, where systemic racism can lead to unfair treatment and job loss, regardless of job performance or professional conduct.

Opinions

  • The author believes that the boss's actions were premeditated and driven by deep-seated racism, as indicated by the boss's immediate hostility and the subsequent discovery of emails showing a concerted effort to have the employee terminated.
  • The employee feels that the boss used his position of power to create a toxic environment, employing racial stereotypes and microaggressions to undermine and devalue the employee's presence and contributions at the workplace.
  • The employee suggests that the boss's behavior was a reflection of a broader system of white supremacy that allows for the unfair treatment and marginalization of Black individuals in the workplace.
  • The author expresses a sense of injustice at the ease with which a person in power can orchestrate the removal of an employee based on race, rather than job performance or merit.
  • The employee's experience highlights the emotional toll and anxiety caused by working in an environment where one's job security is threatened by racial bias and discrimination.
  • The author indicates that the boss's fear and discomfort around the employee, particularly during moments of close interaction, were projection of racist stereotypes onto the employee, implying a fear of Black people as threatening or intimidating.
  • The employee's narrative conveys resilience and a commitment to professionalism in the face of adversity, as well as a call to acknowledge and address the

What Do You Get When a Racist Boss Inherits a Black Employee?

Being the only Black person in an all-white organization, I am often hyperaware of my interactions with colleagues.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

It was a normal Tuesday afternoon and our web contractor was in helping my boss and me on a project. The three of us were in a shared office in full work mode and focused on the tasks at hand. At one point my boss broke the silence and turned to ask me a question. As if he were deliberately trying to burn a hole in my head with his eyes, he tossed out his question a second time. I took a quick moment to think of how to respond and did so ultimately by beginning with an “um,” which apparently was enough to trigger what came next.

After my spontaneous “vocal hesitation” my boss took the opportunity to release the pent-up anger and obvious resentment he had toward me. Filter be damned… he was on a mission. He stood up from his chair and began to rail at me as if I had kicked his dog or wronged his family. He held nothing back. Yelling. Personal insults. Threats. You name it.

Mind you, except for the um, I hadn’t uttered a word let alone presented him with an answer to his question. He just let loose without warning.

The next few minutes were hostile, bullying, and beyond concerning. I honestly thought he was going to attack me. That is how vicious this “mofo” was.

During his tirade, I looked over to the contractor who was pulling his best “don’t make a sound and keep your head down.” I don’t blame him. Who would want what was being slung at me — no one would.

After about three minutes of being told how worthless I was, how my actions (what actions?) deserved consequences, etc., I couldn’t take it anymore. I politely took advantage of a lull in his diatribe to offer a thought of moving the verbal bludgeoning elsewhere. It wasn’t fair to anyone, especially me, to keep this attack out in the open.

Once seated in a vacant office down the hall, he continued his assault. After a while I became a bit uncomfortable in my chair so, in an effort to adjust my positioning (if that was even possible), I sat forward.

Just as I leaned in a bit, the next trigger and response came flying at me.

“Are you trying to intimidate me? That won’t work.”

“Don’t you threaten me!”

“What? Do you think you’re a big man?”

At first, I was confused but as he continued his deliberate onslaught, it became clear what he was truly fearful of. He didn’t like the fact that he was potentially angering me and that we were in such close quarters together — a situation where he probably felt cornered. A situation that he himself had created.

After that day, I learned that “a plan” was put into motion — a plan to have me terminated. To this day I am not sure of why this person decided to bring all his toxic fury and evil baggage to work and dump it on me. Just for saying “um?” I certainly gave him no reason to treat me as he did. And I certainly didn’t deserve to have my employment terminated.

Having gone over the events of that day many times in my head to try and make sense of his brutal behavior, I am convinced he had had our exchange in mind for some time and used his outburst as a calculated first step in getting me tossed. His blow-up was just a tactic to get the ball rolling, an excuse to paint the picture of me being either insubordinate, disrespectful, or any number of other things he could conjure up to use with HR to build his case for termination.

Did you really just say that?

This boss would often allude to the fact that he inherited me and would have preferred to hire his own team. Most managers want this — to hire their own people. In the minds of many managers, building their own team provides that control and sense of accomplishment needed to feel good about their own positioning within a company. I had been at the company for a year and a half before he was hired to run the department. In fact, at a company offsite a month prior, I was taken aside by the president who informed me that he had hired someone to manage the department — manage me. He wanted to apologize for not informing me sooner and simply left it at… you’ll like him.

Hmmm.

Perhaps not involving the team that would directly be affected by a hire is common practice, however, in the past, I’ve had the benefit of being involved in the hiring process or at the very least, had an opportunity to meet a new boss before they started.

As soon as this boss settled into his new position, the inappropriate comments began. Comments on everything the world had to offer: the opposite sex, other races, people with disabilities, politics he disagreed with, and so on. No subject was off-limits for this clown. Perhaps, once he realized he was not going to get any response from me to his racist behavior, he quickly started to view me as his nemesis.

When these comments were directed at me (admittedly infrequently), I would typically duck and allow them to hit the ground and burn. My goal was to always stay focused on my work and not engage this asshole — difficult to do, as he was my new boss and sat a few feet away.

When he changed tactics and tried to relate to me was when things got worse. This is when he used the differences of our ethnicities to further a divide between us and try to show his control over me.

Over the months the questions came in droves. What are you? Where did you come from? How does it feel to be the only ‘Black’ in here? The types of questions asked by someone who isn’t genuinely interested in the answer but is more concerned about satisfying a twisted curiosity on a subject they ultimately care nothing about.

For months he continued upping the ante; from his views on a crumbling of America (he’s from the UK) to his cultivated misogyny. It didn’t seem as though he could accept anything different than what he previously allowed to occupy his brain. In typical racist fashion, his seemingly innocent inquiries were nothing more than overt microaggressions used to keep me in my place. In a way, I think it gave him joy. I could see the smirk on his face each time he would throw a question at me or crack a joke at the expense of, well… anyone.

All the while he was laying the groundwork for my termination.

The email

Fortunately, I had a good rapport with the HR rep with who I communicated regularly over my final few weeks. Perhaps in haste, this HR rep unwittingly copied me on an email chain dated seven months earlier. Noticing my former manager was the architect of said email chain, my curiosity got the better of me. My impressions of him were confirmed after the first email.

In an effort to push me out as quickly as possible, he had mounted a rather aggressive campaign with HR and the organization to get me fired. By the amount of hostility evinced in the paragraphs he wrote, it was clear he was hell-bent on this objective. The slander was exquisite.

It was as though he had done this before — that he was familiar with the protocols needed to get someone fired.

One paragraph, in particular, stood out. In responding to HR about “the day,” he insisted on having security present in case I “reacted” a certain way. He seemed to be more concerned about me getting so enraged that I would lash out and direct my fury at him. Though HR tried to assure him this would not be a concern, he continued on the path of trying to paint me as an uncontrollable thug who would overreact once I received my walking papers. That says it all right there.

In the end

Understanding that in a system of white supremacy, many in the Black community are at a disadvantage when it comes to the workplace and how to navigate its dynamics of such. It’s no wonder many don’t want to return to such a toxic environment.

In such a system those with ill intent can easily erase people they feel don’t reflect a culture they want to see.

Even if you meet the criteria, do your job, and don’t rock the white supremacy boat, there is no guarantee you will survive. The actions of those in power can forever affect your career. Should you experience someone having a bad day or who uses you as a target for their fury, you could be the next casualty — for nothing more than being Black.

The reality is, this incident had nothing to do with me or my job performance, nor did I do anything to provoke the treatment I received. This is, yet another example of a Black person’s world being upended by the fragility and instability of a white person who felt threatened (for whatever reason) enough to fabricate a scenario that would eventually get what they were seeking — for me to lose my job.

This former manager wasn’t simply abusing his position, he seemed determined to act out his power on someone he felt was beneath him — who he felt had no value in his world. From the jump, he just didn’t want me as part of his team no matter my talent or value.

Conceivably, the unfair and abusive treatment was just a tactic to see how much I could withstand and if I would buckle under his abuse and simply quit. Huge gamble if you think of the potential legal ramifications, but ultimately he didn’t care. After all, it would have been his word against mine.

Being a person of color in an all-white organization the stress of the aforementioned combined with the added anxiety of surviving in a possibly hostile work environment, especially by those who can directly affect your livelihood is frightening but it’s a reality many of us must face every day.

I have kept in touch with a few former colleagues from that company and was told that, not long after my departure, that former manager got the boot. Normally, I wouldn’t take pleasure in someone losing their job, as this is tough for anyone to deal with. I know firsthand, as this troglodyte did it to me.

You know what… f*ck him.

Thank you for reading!

Follow me on Twitter: @gcorreiawrites

Racism
Racist Boss
Workplace Discrimination
Unwarranted Termination
White Supremacy
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