On "Allyship Lists" and Barry White Songs

Too many white "professionals" love to tell other white people how to be "allies" while not being "allies" themselves.

Y'all love posting your lists of "things to do to be an ally" while you appropriate melanated people's cultures for your hair, clothes, and aesthetics.

Y'all love chastising other white people for not standing up and speaking out while not standing up or speaking out when your supervisors and co-workers hand out intersectional micro-aggressions and anti-Black rhetoric like party favors to your colleagues of color.

Y'all love telling other white people that they must listen to Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander voices. Then y'all proceed to shut down Black voices, speak over melanated folx in discussions, go on the defensive when called in or out by melanated folx, and make sure you stay far away from the idea of paying people of color for their time and teachings.

Maybe y'all need to listen to some Barry White. Maybe then y'all could practice what you preach.

Switch Dat Career, Yo!

Here's your Tuesday reminder that no matter how much you're being paid, no career is worth sacrificing your soul, dignity, mental and emotional health, physical health, and happiness.

I know; there is privilege in saying that. But there's also a belief that if you feel beat down, mistreated, unheard, and drained in your career but are still expected to wear a smile and a mask hiding your hurt, then it's OK to begin thinking of how your skills transfer over to other environments and fields of work. Be willing to think about what's next, what you can do to change your circumstances, and find a career that speaks to you. Plan your exit.

You've put too much into building your career to allow these heteronormative white supremacist, ableist workplace norms and systems to take your spirit away from you. If your career choice leaves you more drained than empowered, it's more than OK to pivot. You're not alone. A recent Harris Poll found that approximately half (52%) of U.S. American employees are considering making a career change this year. 44% are already in the planning stages to make that switch.

P.S.: Note that I said a career and not a job. If a day job becomes a career? Awesome. But if it doesn't? That's awesome too. We live in a capitalist system. Make your money, darling. If it ain't draining you and it's paying your bills? Do you, boo-boo.

On Independence, White Apathy Masquerading as Empathy, Black Bodies and Policing

TW: anti-Blackness, murder, police violence.

To white “professionals”:

Jayland Walker.

Say his name.

Quit acting like the murder of Black bodies at the hands of the police isn’t a regular part of U.S. American life. You know better than that by now.

Quit questioning why this keeps happening. You already know the answers to these questions.

Quit offering condolences or making performative social media posts. There ain’t enough black squares and “we need to do better” posts in the world that will ever supplant white people taking legitimate action to unwrap the lack of accountability and white supremacist ideology the U.S. was built on.

Quit watching and sharing the video of Jayland being shot by Akron, Ohio police more than 60 times. It’s not the “liberal” flex you think it is. No one needs to watch that pain. You sharing the video of that pain is a symbol of your lack of care for Black people’s trauma.

Quit thinking the Black people in your workplace or community only need a few days to heal and will be OK because they have the 4th of July off and/or a 3-day weekend. Most of us haven’t healed from the last murder by police in our cities or in this country, let alone everything else that has transpired lately in this country. And most of us hate the 4th of July. We’re using it as a day to stay the hell away from y’all and get into a headspace where we can exist for a few days at work around y’all to get back to another weekend so we heal some more.

Quit doing all of the above and start asking yourself why you do all of the above. And unpack that sh— on your time. Don’t put the labor of your messy white supremacist sh— on Black folx as your white fragility/violence sounding boards.

Enjoy your ribs and your small explosives that harm veterans and pets.

Independence.

On "Multiple Truths," White Supremacist Workplace Culture, and the Right to Comfort

I used to have a white supervisor who hired me to do equity and anti-racism work. I would tell them the findings of my investigations into incidents of racism and white supremacy. I told them about my conversations with employees and the discomfort that many white employees, especially senior leadership, had with discussing the topics of racism and white supremacy. This supervisor, the organization's CEO, regularly tried their damndest to explain why this was the case. When I wouldn't allow them to blame me for the discomfort of their white leaders or place the blame on other factors (including placing responsibility on the few employees of color they had), they opted to try a tactic as old as time: gaslighting. Not only gaslighting, mind you, but a very particular kind of gaslighting intended to remove responsibility from the shoulders of white leaders.

This CEO told me that what I was sharing with them was one of "many truths" about what was going on in their workplace.

They said there were "multiple truths" at play and that we needed to consider the "truths" of the white people in the organization. They began trying to push the narrative that the organization needed me to center the "psychological comfort" of white senior leaders so that they could "speak their truth" and "be heard."

Yeah...no.

Hell no.

I shut that nonsense down quicker than a hiccup.

My time with that organization didn't last much longer past that moment.

Listen here, white "professionals": there is no such thing as "multiple truths" if your employees and colleagues that are part of the Global Majority are harmed by your white supremacist workplace culture and white people with power in your organization. There are no "multiple truths" at play if you are called in or called out for being racist. No " truth " will absolve you from being responsible for your toxicity. The only "truth" we should be talking about is that you don't want accountability for your racist beliefs, actions, and company policies and procedures. You don't get to decide that your narrative of your racism, and upholding white supremacy should be viewed on the same level as the truth shared by those you harm.

I don't deal in "multiple truths" or "alternative truths."

That's harmful people sh--.

That's harmful white people who don't want to be held accountable for their toxicity sh--. I don't support that nonsense, regardless of salary.

Your "truth" when it comes to racism and upholding white comfort is invalid because your "truth" is a good/bad binary white supremacist fairytale, white “professionals.”

And that's the truth, ruth.