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Workplace Racism Is Exhausting
A Think Piece
The title says it all. Workplace racism is alive and kicking. Racism can include, making racial jokes or microaggressions like ostracism. On a bigger scale, it could mean policing how you dress or speak at work and a lower salary than your counterparts. People experience negative things at work regardless of race. Workplace bullying is also very real. But for this, I’m going to focus on race.
From my vantage point, racism affects everything I do. It affects how I think and how I maneuver through life. I’m a black, queer, educated, female and to some, that could be a threat. It depends on how you were raised and socialized to treat others who are different than yourself. I was raised in a pretty accepting home, but as humans do, sometimes we say off-beat things about people from other races. No one is exempt. I’ll admit, I’ve said some radical shit about white people; only on the basis of stereotypes. Also, from the perspective of an American. Because our society was founded on racism, it is ingrained in many of our thought patterns.
For people, primarily black and Hispanic or Latinx, workplace antics can leave you exhausted by the end of the week. The shit that I put up with at my current workplace has me thinking I’m being Punk’d. I’m checking behind closets and corners for Ashton to pop up. But, the circumstances…
