On LinkedIn, White-Leaning Double Standards, and the Reverse Racism Defense

This morning, I posted one of my self-appointed three weekly posts on LinkedIn, the networking platform best known for supporting hate speech from white “professionals” while acting like taking a stance and banning hateful white people is hard to do. Why only three posts per week on LinkedIn? You can read more about that here.

Anyhoo, one of my three posts this week was focused on why I would no longer be accepting connection requests from white “professionals” on LinkedIn.

It took less than thirty minutes for some white “professional” to report my post as hate speech.

Image description: a screenshot of an email from the LinkedIn Trust and Safety department. The post reads as follows:

”Your post doesn't comply with our policies

Your post goes against our policy on hate speech. It has been removed and only you can access it.

If you've reviewed our policy and believe we made a mistake, you can ask us to take a second look.

Repeatedly creating content that doesn't comply with our Professional Community Policies could lead to your LinkedIn account being restricted.

Thank you for being part of the LinkedIn community.”

Hey! A new record!

I can’t even get mad about this. It’s hilarious. Legitimate hate speech runs rampant on LinkedIn every day. It’s wild how many Black women, Black and Brown folx, femmes, queer folx, and Global Majority folx get inundated with hateful rhetoric and messages by white “professionals” on the LinkedIn platform every day with no repercussions for those doling out the harm. We report these hateful people, and LinkedIn’s Trust and Safety team tells us they “investigated” the matter, and it doesn’t violate their terms of usage. Yet white “professionals” report any and every post Black folx, Black women, and Global Majority folx make that call out white supremacist ideology, and we’re flagged for “hate speech” because white “professionals” know that the platform will side with them.

It’s so obvious and transparent that it would be hilarious if it weren’t so dangerous for many professionals of color and queer professionals trying to use the platform to build or cultivate their careers.

This nonsense is why I only post on LinkedIn 2-3 times per week.

This is why I use this website as the central hub for everything I speak about and my work.

The email you see above is the third “violation” email I’ve received from LinkedIn in two months. I’m not going to dispute the post they took down this morning because I disputed the last two removals, and they held firm that my posts were “hate speech” and did not repost them. Why expend the energy to dispute a decision that you know a white-centric social media networking platform will uphold to ensure the comfort of whiteness? It’s just a social media platform. It ain’t worth my time. LinkedIn doesn’t want people of color, Black folx, and Black women on their platform unless they comply, assimilate, and prioritize white comfort.

That’s a no for me, dawg.

We’re just going to start posting to LinkedIn 1-2 times per week.

The following wall of text is the banned post in its entirety. I’ll let you decide where the hate speech is located. I’m not finding it, but I’ve never been good at Where’s Waldo? puzzles.

Hey, white people. I hope y'all are having an OK week and haven't been on some white supremacist nonsense at work and in the community this week. The likelihood that you have been on some white supremacist nonsense somewhere this week is high, so I suppose wishful thinking?

I digress.

I'm sending a message out to white "professionals" today because I've been getting a lot of connection requests from y'all over the past few weeks. Some of y'all are probably wondering why your request has been sitting in limbo. The truth is, it's not in limbo. Your request was either declined or ignored. Your request wasn't accepted.

I'm sure some of y'all read that and went to all of the usual arguments:

Why wouldn't he want to connect? I know people whom I can share his work with.

You're just limiting your reach by declining [white] professionals.

OK. And?

Real talk? I don't have to or need to give you an explanation. But it's Thursday, and I'm feeling damn good this morning after having a solid week, so I'm going to be clear on one thing we're doing around here: I'm accepting no new white connections.

The truth is, I'm a grown-ass man who picks where his energy goes and who gets to partake in that energy. And I don't think that white "professionals" on LinkedIn deserve to partake in my energy and bask in my glory as a connection. My interactions with you on this platform are more negative than positive. I block people all the time on LinkedIn. Whom do I block the most? White "professionals." Y'all send me connections because y'all have decided to follow Black and Brown folx and collect us like networking Pokemon. You end up having like eight or more connections with Black and Brown folx I am connected with, but y'all aren't here to contribute or grow. You want free "learning opportunities." Y'all want to feel like "good" white people. Y'all want to play devil's advocate. You want to drain the energy of those Global Majority folx out here putting in the work to make workplaces better while doing nothing to be better yourself. Many of you post something heinous on a Black woman's page, then turn around and send me a connection request. Many of y'all say something heinous on my page or send me a racist DM, then wonder why you've been blocked.

Y'all are not worth the energy and time, white "professionals." I get nothing from adding y'all as connections.

Y'all are succubi, and you'll continue to be succubi until you reach a critical mass of whiteness that does not want to feast on the energy of the melanated.

Will it limit my reach on this platform? I don't care. But also? No. Y'all share my posts all the time to impress other "professionals." I doubt y'all will stop doing that. I'm sure one or two of you will share this one. And that's hilarious to me.

In short: I don't need any new white "professional" friends. Save yourself the trouble of a connection request.

Watch one of y'all send me a connection request right after reading this. Face. Palm.

Again, you be the judge. LinkedIn’s already levied out their judgment. And my side-eye is judging their judgment like a motherfucker, so I guess we will all be judgy as hell together.

If you want to follow and amplify my posts and content, this website is the place to be. Bookmark it, set up your RSS reader to get posting notifications, and share the posts on your social media channels.

On Brittney, Breonna, and Giving Black Women Their Flowers

TW: Murder, anti-Blackness, violence, and systemic and intentional harm of Black women.

Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison today by Russian prosecutors. For a vape and some vape cartridges. And now Brittney Griner will be a political pawn in a dangerous "pissing match" game between two stubborn white cis men who fashion themselves as leaders. One was elected by the U.S. American people not because he was the most qualified but because we were given limited options. One elected himself by force, as white cis men are prone to do.

Nine years. For a vape and some vape cartridges.

It's taken over two years for the family of Breonna Taylor to even remotely see the possibility of justice and accountability for her unnecessary and reckless murder at the hands of Louisville, Kentucky, police officers. And while these are federal charges they're now facing, there's no guarantee Breonna's murderers will be held accountable for their actions.

Over two years. In a case where all the evidence points to blatant recklessness, endangerment, and murder.

Damnit.

This world truly goes out of its way to harm Black women, to disregard their worth and life, use them, drain them, and discard them. I'm tired.

I know Black women are beyond tired.

Sending all of my love, energy, and support to Black women today and every day as the world sends y'all reminders of how much y'all have to endure to live and thrive. Y'all deserve all the flowers, the love, and support in this cruel world.

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.

Who All Gon' Be There?: A Case For Not Working In Person If You Don't Have To

I've been doing HR "professionally" for ten years. In that time, I've seen dozens of harmful and hateful people in leadership roles in almost every industry harass, sexually harass, verbally, and physically threaten their team members. I've witnessed blatant and aggressive racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and ableism by "leaders" who always asked for "diverse" candidates to fill their high turnover departments. I've watched as these "leaders" have created unsafe work environments for people from all walks of life who didn't fit their "like me" bias box. When I have called out these "leaders" for their actions, I have sat and watched as these "leaders" have gone out of their way to make my life a living hell to force me out of what they've deemed their workplaces.

And I know I'm not the only one this has happened to in those workplaces.

I've seen those who have been harmed be forced to leave the workplaces where these dangerous "leaders" call themselves leading because the organizations refuse to hold their attackers accountable. They've all said some version of the same sentences to me on their way out of these organizations:

"I couldn't keep doing this every day, Pharoah. I'm tired. I was starting to dread Mondays. I know you tried to help me, but they're doing the same thing to you."

Most of those "leaders" still have their jobs.

If you ever wonder why so many people, if they have the privilege to, want to avoid being physically in the workplace at this point, read all of the words above and then layer them over everything that was going on in your workplace before COVID-19.

Most of those "leaders" still have their jobs.

There's a reason Black folx ask people, "Who all gon' be there?" That's to feel out if we're being asked to go to a place where we can and will be harmed. We want to know if it's going to be some nonsense poppin' off with some messy people so we can avoid the situation. At this point, if these "leaders" are still gon' be there in the physical office space?

We good.

We ALL good.

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.