While being on an “extended vacation” from any type of
office work, there are some things I miss and some things I thank the big guy
upstairs that I’m not in an office for. Being a minority in an office is like
being the spokesperson for your race. It’s no escaping the “water cooler” talks
about current events.
I’m so happy I don’t have to speak on the Trayvon and
Zimmerman case or the Paula Deen scandal in an office setting. Speaking about
race relations in an office just doesn’t go well. Let’s be real there are some
people that will not have one fact about what they are talking about but will
automatically say “it’s a shame what they are doing to Paula Deen and Zimmerman
was only protecting themselves.” Then they will have nerve to look at you for
your thoughts. There you are the
spokesperson for black people, the expert on race relations, and the damn fool
that was sucked into this conversation at work.
The first thing you have to do is explain all the facts of
the situation because they are obviously too busy jumping to a conclusion
instead of actually finding out the facts.
You end it with “you didn’t know that?” Now they offended because they
didn’t know the facts. At the end of the discussion, now that you laid out the
facts and argued it like you were the second coming of Johnnie Cochran, there
may be one or many that are not going to speak with you for about a week. Now
instead of just being a fellow coworker you are a radical black person. Instead
of being the second coming of Martin Luther King , you are now the second
coming of Malcom X or Angela Davis (insert any black leader that white folks
are generally afraid or view radical).
It is a way out of this though. Don’t talk about it. When
they ask you what do you think or when they turn to you, just say “I don’t know”
and walk away. Good luck with that though.
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