The Cost of Speaking Up
“I didn’t know. I wish more black people would speak about their experiences so we could understand.” — An astonishing number of white people.
The recent brutal, videotaped, killing of black Minneapolis resident George Floyd was only the latest in a series of videotaped killings of unarmed black people by law enforcement over the past few years. Please know the violence against black people isn’t new. Black folks have complained about police behavior in city after county after state for generations. Their stories were often not believed by the white community or discounted as anomalies or somehow justified. There used be a common thought in the black community that if only white folks could witness the treatment, their minds would be changed. Turns out not so much. So often incidents were captured on camera and the police officers involved would not face any consequences. And too often if police officers are held accountable, it is only after extraordinary effort or public shaming.
So when the George Floyd video came out, years of unheeded complaints, combined with the unique circumstance of large chunk of the public having been cooped up in quarantined it fostered an unusual level of focus. In recent months, social and economic disparities have been laid bare in an unavoidable way. The gruesome Floyd video provided the final fuel for protest. Massive multi-location protest. Most of the protests have been peaceful, though some have notably turned violent.
One common response heard from significant numbers of white folks both in public proclamation and private conversation: “I didn’t know. I wish more black people would speak about their experiences so we could understand.” For so many black people that statement is exhausting. We understand that the request is made from what feels like an earnest desire to understand and educate oneself. But do know members of the black community have been speaking up. Black folks have been protesting peacefully. But the white community has listened too infrequently. And movement to action has been even more rare. In the current situation it sadly seems protest having escalated to some cases of destruction has made the difference in forcing white Americans to look at the need for change. We need to be able to do better than that.
Obviously in a workforce situation, where working relationships are particularly important, it is less than desirable for black workers to have to go to such extraordinary means for ordinary treatment. And so quite often, real concerns aren’t registered. Black workers as well as black leaders are forced to pick their spots, to make a calculation whether it is worth expending capital to let a person or a group know that they are doing or saying something offensive, that there is something about the workplace that isn’t welcoming or doesn’t provide the support they need to be successful, if the company or organization is not improperly reading the wants and needs of their service population or part of their desired customer base.
When you ask your black co-workers to share their stories or invite them to speak up, do know you are asking them to relive real emotional trauma. Do know that it is exhausting to so often be called upon to educated the rest of the office on their experiences or concerns. It is particularly exhausting if there is only one or two black staffers on board who continually have to the spokesperson for their entire community. But beyond all of that, there is the too frequent consequence of being labeled as a complainer, as divisive, as not a team player. Too often a black workers see their recollection of experiences not taken as seriously as their white counterparts — whether those counterparts agree with them or disagree with them. And perhaps worst of all, after all of that, too often the expressed concerns come to nothing. The staff diversity table at your institution doesn’t change. The leadership doesn’t change. The decision-making process doesn’t change.
Your black co-worker is more apt to be willing to share stories and raise concerns that make your company or organization a better place to work and better able to reach new markets and serve the community if there is a payoff at the end. Organizations and companies need effective structures in place to increase diversity on staff and in leadership. They need to have structures in place to increase equity and inclusion. They need to have structures in places to seriously consider input for a diverse set of employees and partners. And progress needs to periodically measured and reviewed.
Rene Bryce-Laporte is Co-Founder of Diversity Works, a consultancy that helps organizations explore workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion
