I have always enjoyed writing about anything
but the more I talk to other BME women from different organisations ,the more I
realise that race and racialisation in workplaces will carry on forever. Unlike my parents who were born and grew up
in the racist white minority government in Southern Rhodesia, I was born and
grew up where all were equal and I didn’t have to think of race the way I do
today in Europe.
Let
me start by defining racialisation according to Galabuzi (2006):
Racialisation translates into
actions and decisions within social systems that lead to differential and
unequal outcomes, and entrenchment of structures of oppression. The influence
of negative race based judgements in decision- making at different levels of
society produces racial inequality.
Why
write about black women experiences? As a black feminist- yes that’s right, I
speak and write in the hope of raising questions to new and enduring problems
in the workplace- re gender and race. In most workplaces the mere mention of
race or racism can incite particular responses which can be disturbing. I write
in the hope of transformation. For many women of colour in the workplace,
problems begin with numerical representation. You look around you and there as hardly anyone
you can relate to re race. You tell
someone and either they think you are ‘just sensitive or you have chip on
shoulder’. This has always been the case wherever I work. I also discovered
that there were different rules for ‘different people. White folks will be treated like royalty if
they are having problems and when it’s you, you are told to grow up or as one
person said to me once, ‘you are not cut out for this place.’
Since
moving to Europe in 2006, I have experienced prejudice one way or the other. I
have tried to blend in but I am always reminded of my race and ethnicity. This
has been mostly in the work place (private, public and not for profit organisations).
Sounds familiar anybody?
Derald
Wing Sue (2011) notes that the research
on race shows that ‘whites experience themselves as good , moral and decent
beings who would never intentionally hurt or discriminate against others’(418).
I
am however baffled by some people I have worked with who seemed ‘affable’ and
‘intelligent’ and who preach ideals of equality but seem to have little if any
consciousness of the ways in which their attitudes and behaviours are
interpreted as racist by their non-white
nor how the system of white supremacy works. In some places I found myself working in an environment in
which certain white workmates did not seem to care what they said in my
presence, or perhaps I should say, that they seemed unaware of the messages of undesirability and
inferiority that they were communicating
regarding non-white people. Even in
Human Resources where you expect some sort of level headedness, a workmate who
was recruiting once looked at her list of potential applicants and said the people
had all ‘weird names’ and wouldn’t be suitable as they would need visas (I am
putting it mildly here). So how did she come to that conclusion one might
wonder. I for example am British but with the so called ‘weird name!’ And
what’s in a name anyway? Toni Morrison
one of my favourite authors cautioned ‘Oppressive language does more than
represent violence; it is violence; does more than represent the limits of
knowledge ; it limits knowledge’.
In
the social world of white normativity, as George Yancy (2012) writes, ‘it is
white meaning making that creates the condition under which black people are
always already marked different/deviant/ dangerous. Sanchez –Hucles (1997)
reminds us, black women in the workforce have often been regarded as tokens,
deviants, invisible, isolates and of low status…..’’
To
start talking about weird / foreign names in my presence in a belittling way
when I am the only one in the office with such a name is clearly not only
isolating but trying to make me invisible.
That reminds me of something that happened, there
was an organisation I so wanted to work for in my area. I applied for all the HR jobs that I qualified for but never
even got an invitation to an interview and I wonder if they used the ‘ weird
name criteria’ for shortlisting. I know what you are thinking – that I might
not have had the skills. I can assure you that any person who has been to
University with 3 degrees can do administrative work. And I wasn’t
overqualified because the work was in my line of work – Human Resources!
Another
thing I have seen is, if you are lucky to get the job then you become the dumping
ground for anything to do with diversity as one friend of mine found out in her
workplace. Celebrating diversity only meant she had to organise events and even
attend them while her white counterparts were busy with work apparently! Preaching
to the converted!
As
Henry (2000) points out:
‘Black
women professionals know too well how their race, gender and class backgrounds
have structured them historically in the workplace to ‘clean up everyone’s mess
(hooks and West 1991, 154). Black women once hired are often expected to do the
‘hands on work’ and the less intellectual work and the diversity work (Bangar
and McDemott 1989).
Another interesting thing that happened to me
in one of the organisations I worked is a good example of this ‘two-facedness ’
on diversity and race issues. On my arrival, I noticed there were a few black
faces scattered in the open plan office which was encouraging. I was hopeful
since I had also seen on the advert the following words: ‘applications are particularly welcome from women and black and ethnic
minority candidates, who are under-represented.’ I thought they were the
real deal. This was the place to be. This
was so much in contrast with every place I had worked.
Then
wham change happened- team restructuring! All the four black faces including me
were made redundant and there went the ‘we are for diversity and welcome people
from ethnic minority’ theory. Those who
stayed on were white, not senior or had any special qualities; we only happened
to be black and had to go.
The
four of us were shocked but happy to leave because of the toxicity of the
environment. It was as if plans had been made to get rid of us all long and
after the restructuring, the organisation still advertised for Human Resources
personnel.
What
angers me is the rhetoric of some organisations and senior management where the
subject of race is concerned. As Ballard and Parveen (2008) wrote,
rhetorical commitment to anti-racist practice, no matter how loudly
articulated, cannot be taken as evidence of the absence of problems seething
below the surface. Sue argues, ‘An
unwillingness to name the contours of racism means unwillingness to challenge
notions of meritocracy and a level playing field’, clearly the case of most
places I have worked.
In
one of the organisations I worked for, when I mentioned racism to my workmates
or even the lack of black people in the decision making positions, I was met
with silences, denials of structures of racism and even encountered tears. One
lady hugged me and cried ‘Oh don’t worry you are one of us. We want you here.’
Really? Why would I be one of you?
In
another organisation they used to organise talks/events and when I asked why
there was no diversity among the speakers, I was told ‘there aren’t any black
people doing this work’. Really?
This
denial of racism is convenient.
Food
for thought!
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