I was once called the token black person. At that moment, I wasn’t sure how to respond, other than, “I’m not the token black person”.
This brought up two questions for me and deep thought on the answers.
What role do I play and how am I supposed to respond to something like that?
The leader? The observer? The educator? The victim?
If I take on the role of a leader will I come off too aggressive and standoffish?
If I take on the role of the observer, do I not speak up for what is right?
If I take on the role of the educator, is this just a moment that will soon fade and mean nothing? Do I become the victim, making excuses and trying to justify what happened, but hold bitterness in my spirit?
When I discussed this with other black women (who are often one of the few black people in their company) I found that we had a similar thought: what role do we play and how should we respond?
Tokenism exists in the workplace, especially within startups and tech.
Questions around not getting a specific promotion, raise, or feeling that a performance review leans one way or the other, is real for those who feel they are one in a room of many.
I find that this type of question is more common if the company hasn’t made it verbally clear how they stand on diversity, inclusion, or educating early on implicit bias.
Had the company provided bias training I would feel like the comment was less about the view of the company and more of an individualized ignorance on the person making the comment.
I find that people are less likely to do things the company doesn’t agree with if there wasn’t a grey area.
So the question remains, what role do I play when I’m faced with microaggression, racial conversations, and cultural ignorance?
I choose to respond as a leader that uses the lens of humanity to formulate a response that can be used as an example, an observer that uses anthropology to understand what is actually going on in that moment, and an educator to provide knowledge and enlightenment around tough issues and conversations.
Being the only one of anything has its challenges. We are humans and meant to connect beyond the surface level, however, when we are consumed by superficial and stereotypical methodology it creates no environment beyond skin deep and devalues the true capabilities of the human.
Diversity and inclusion is a humanity and heart issue. Start there and then real change will transform aspirations and idle talk into something beautiful.
Charisse Fontes is the founder of Culture Circle and an Executive + People Ops Advisor to founders and leadership teams.
more about Culture Circle →first published on linkedin, may 2019_
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