Monday's Opening Thought: October 11, 2021

This week's opening thought: I know that many of y'all do not trust Human Resources. You don't trust the HR folx who work for your employer. You've witnessed them gaslighting people. You've watched, powerless, as they harm people of color and marginalized folx, either directly or through defending those who aim to hurt them with aplomb. You've seen them do and say harmful, racist, sexist, patriarchal, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, ableist, ageist, and do it all behind a veil of being a decent and "well-meaning" person. If you're a person of color, you've likely been on the receiving end of these words and actions. Same for if you're part of a marginalized community. And don't get me started on how most HR "professionals" view those with intersectional identities and handle matters connected to intersectionality and oppression. I want to say that I get it.

I get why you don't trust HR or even have a little bit of faith in HR having your best interests at heart. I know you wonder how much they care about you if they seem to be unwilling to mitigate your possible harm at the hands of oppression and white supremacy in the workplace. And because I get it, I want to say…that you are justified in your beliefs and gut instincts. Your experiences with HR are authentic and valid. Real talk?

You shouldn't trust HR.

Hell, I work in HR, and I don't trust the HR people I work with to mitigate the racism, microaggressions, and harm being done to me, let alone anyone else. And for me, much of the oppression and white supremacy I find myself on the receiving end of is being done to me or witnessed by me being done to others by other HR "professionals."

You didn't think I was going to tell you that you should trust HR, did you? C'mon. I would hope you'd expect more from me than that. I can't in good conscience advise y'all to do something that I wouldn't do. I'm sure that many of you reading this have found HR to be more harmful than helpful when you've found yourself being attacked and mistreated in the workplace because of your intersectional identities. If HR folx – those that I've worked with in the past as well as those I currently work with - aren't willing to support and believe me, their token Black "colleague," against the words and actions of white supremacists and oppressors at work, they are not going to be here for you either.

The best advice I can give you is to learn and understand your rights as an employee. Take the time to bone up on labor laws in your state. Attend trainings and seminars around labor law updates. Find out which agencies and labor bureaus in your region, city, or state you can go to for help if you've been facing discrimination, oppression, and racism in your workplace and have been gaslit or denied support by HR. File a complaint with those agencies and take action when you've gotten to the point where you can't endure being harmed at work any longer. Research labor lawyers in your area and file a lawsuit if needed. But don't suddenly think that HR is going to finally decide to help you on your umpteenth time coming to them for help with your white teammates saying and doing racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, and ableist things to you and others. HR ain't here for you. They are here to tow the company line first and mitigate white people's discomfort with facing repercussions for their hateful actions second.

You shouldn't trust HR because they have not shown you that they are willing and capable of centering your humanity over the company's interest and the comfort of white people and people of color with privilege. And that slice of reality is something you can trust.

Monday's Opening Thought: October 4, 2021

This week's opening thought: Can we all agree that companies and organizations need to throw their values statements in the bin? Like, who is working for a company living up to all of these values they've written up and placed on their company websites as performative public gestures laced with white supremacist workplace ideology and compliance? Any of us? How about your co-workers who place white supremacist workplace ideology up on a pedestal but love to trot out the company values when a person of color or marginalized person calls them in or out?

No company or organization is living up to these "values." Why? Because to live up to these values is to create an environment where white supremacy cannot thrive without dismantling itself and becoming something different and more inclusive – and we can't have that now, can we?

Companies need to start doing more than making a list of ideal values and posting them on their websites to regale and fool the public. Your values need to be codified into every aspect of your workplace culture and processes in tangible ways. Your leaders need to be held accountable for not utilizing your values in how they lead. And anyone who uses your company's values as weapons of oppression toward marginalized employees needs to be sent packing. I mean, if you're serious about your "values" having meaning and purpose and all that jazz.

P.S.: Make sure you throw your anti-racism and anti-discrimination policies in the same bin as your values statements because y'all ain't livin' up to those either.

I call 'em how I see 'em.

On Grocery Lists, Karens, Chets, and Apple Crumbles

I have had to check a whole lot of white people this week. Like, a whole lot. That's not a bragging point or badge of honor.

It's a declaration that I and other Black folx and people of color shouldn't be able to get to the end of our work weeks with the ability to build a damn list of white people we've had to check.

Some of y'all white folx need to start checking other white folx because I shouldn't have to mistake my checked white supremacists' list with my grocery list. Damn near bought a bunch of Karens and Chets instead of cardamom for my apple crumble.

And I refuse to let y'all mess up my apple crumble.

Scared

Two days ago, I was told that the white people with power and positionality at work are scared of me. I was then told that I make them uncomfortable because I talk about racism, oppression, white supremacy, and dismantling hatred and oppression in the workplace and our communities without baby gloves.

...I just wanted to share that. Don't really have too much to add to that. I mean, that speaks for itself, doesn't it? I knew they felt this way. I've known since day one. I know that most white people think this way about me. But having a white person with more power and positionality than you tell you this out loud in a meeting with a nervous chuckle because even they are scared of you and hope you don't call them out really hits you a particular kind of way. I sat with it for a couple of days, talked with my therapist about it, and I'm doing OK. It's out of my control. It is what it is. White people gonna white people. And Pharoah's gonna keep being Pharoah. Que sera.

Happy Thursday.