On Being A Black Male Social Worker Working Within a Predominately White Female Agency
I am a black male social worker. I work within a predominately white female agency. I have two supervisors, both white women that I have to answer to. Every morning a team of seven individuals congregate around a table to review client visits, discuss client cases and organize the work load for the day. Five of these individuals are white women, one is a white man and then there is myself, the only black social worker at the agency. Historically there has been much discord and disharmony at this table when it comes to problem-solving and decision-making however, we all have managed to be civil with one another in an effort to get the work done. Recently however an incident occurred at my job which caused me to not only question the cultural literacy of the people that I work with but also reevaluate how I move within these predominately white spaces.
One day during morning meeting while organizing the workload for the day, one member of the team brought up a concern about the distribution of clients on particular days and wanted to reconfigure the client schedule to make the work load more manageable and make the best use of our time. I agreed and suggested that we discuss this at our usual team meeting held every Thursday. The team agreed to this. I thought that was the end of it. It was not.
After the meeting, my white female co-worker went into my supervisors office and vocalized her discontent with the initial plan agreed upon and demanded we have another meeting later that afternoon to fix the schedule. Of course my supervisor agreed to this because anything that usurps and challenges male agency and authority is right up her alley so she sends an email to the team informing us of this. Once again, I felt completely undermined. I vocalized my concerns by responding to the email informing the team of the importance of being consistent with plans made as we recently had a team training where we unpacked the various behaviors that erode the trust and emotional safety of our team and we collectively agreed that not adhering to plans made undermines the safety and trust of the entire team. I reminded the team of this training and encouraged the team to consider adhering to the original plan of having the meeting on Thursday. I thought I was heard and my request respected. It was not.
I decided to go out for my daily afternoon walk to destress from the happenings of the day. When I returned to the office, I saw that my white co-workers were at the table having the meeting without me. I felt betrayed, undermined and completely disrespected! I communicated this and all hell broke loose. The female coworker that initially went into my supervisors office vocalized her discontent and began to cry out of frustration with not being heard and listened to. We all sat back stunned at this reaction as it was totally unexpected and inappropriate to the situation. I was especially stunned and annoyed because once again white tears were weaponized and used as a diversion tactic to deviate away from the real issue. Once again her feelings had to take precedence over the entire exchange. My supervisor asked me what I thought the issue was with having the meeting today and I explained to her numerous times of the importance of honoring the agreements that we make to support team cohesion and trust. I explained to her that co-workers have vocalized not having enough time to complete their work often resulting in them staying later than they should. I informed her that I wanted to ensure that this did not happen and that all concerns could be addressed without having to compromise ones routine. She didn’t seem to get it at all. I expressed my frustration with her inability to understand the most rudimentary concept of consistency and then the remaining team members at the table expressed their thoughts which were all self-serving, tone deaf in nature and did not really address the main issue.
Truth is my white female coworkers are not comfortable with black male agency. For the longest time, upon my inception into the role of social worker on this team I have sat back, remained quiet, often times playing a very supportive role within the agency structure. I have validated their half-cocked ideas, cooperated with their suggestions, listened and attended to their inane ramblings and yet the moment that I assert my agency and suggest something that I thought would benefit the team, I get pushback and white women tears. Please!
As a black male social worker working at a predominately white female agency, there are many dynamics at play here. For one I am black. They are white. Historically the field of social work has been trail blazed by racist white women whose supposed founder Jane Addams believed in the segregation of races as well as the policy of eugenics, which encouraged the sterilization of Black people. So there’s that aspect. Additionally history has taught us that white people in this country struggle with the superiority complex known as white supremacy. They believe that everything white is better than anything black. Black feelings, Black speech, Black experiences are deemed subpar and inferior in comparison to their whiteness. White people have been taught to systematically deny the experiences of black people. This denial of the richness and beauty of black people, black culture, black lives has instilled a reverse trauma of white guilt within the white unconsciousness. This reverse trauma is intergenerational and continues to bleed through the legacies of white people even to this very day.
Additionally there is a conflicted relationship right now between black and white people due to the numerous racially motivated killings of black people as well as the numerous instances of bigotry, bias, stereotyping and unfair treatment impressed upon the lives of Black people. Not to mention the tense relationship that exists between white women and black men as a result of erroneous fears and false cries for help by white women who use their whiteness as a weapon to jeopardize the lives of black men.
How does this play out in various work spaces where whiteness is often prized at the expense of black experience? Well personally as a black employee working in predominately white spaces, there are times when I feel like my knowledge is not trusted but rather suspected and treated as subpar. If the information that I impart is not cosigned and validated by a white co-worker, then it is often times researched right at the table where we all congregate for its accuracy and validity. White women at my job will run to their phones to Google my offering in order to verify if it is in fact true as the media has told them that as a black man, I am someone that is a “superpredator” and therefore not to be trusted. I have to explain myself constantly and am always asked to repeat myself as they do not understand black idioms and cultural terminology unique to the race. For a minute there I thought they were deaf/ hearing impaired considering how many times I have been asked to repeat myself despite my audible tone of voice. But it is clear to me they are just culturally deaf to the plight of black folk in America. There are some days when I feel totally invisible as it feels like as a black man I do not even come up on their radar. They are so used to ignoring black people and centering whiteness that I do not even register to them unless they are making a conscious effort to listen to me and often times this feels like charity and cultural generosity that leads them to believe they are good, not racist and therefore free to carry on business-as-usual when the truth is their biases are so deeply ingrained they aren’t even aware of the impact they have on not only me as the only black employee at the agency but also the clients of color that we served as this predominately white establishment.
The fact that I am a male working at a female dominated social service agency creates another interesting dynamic as historically social work has been a female-dominated profession. Historically women have also been disenfranchised by the specter of patriarchy and have suffered numerous traumas at the hands of broken men especially in work place settings. This is still happening today. Such abuses of power have instilled within women a desire to resist anything that remotely resembles male dominance and male authority. I have noticed at my agency that the women who work with me often times will rally and rail against all forms of male agency out of what I suspect to be a fear of being dominated and controlled. Any ideas that are proposed by men are usually encountered with opposition, covert rage, hostility and an unwillingness to cooperate. At my agency in particular I have noticed this need to challenge and undermine any ideas proposed by men. It is only when validated by a female co-worker are ideas proposed by men usually incorporated within the team structure and validated accordingly.
This intense hypervigilance and staunch resistance to male agency can especially be seen amongst my white female supervisors. At times I feel like some female supervisors can be worse than men especially when it comes to micromanaging and the inappropriate and often times caricatured assertion of authority. I’m starting to realize that it is not so much a matter of gender as it is this need to assert ones dominance in an effort to be taken seriously. Men have been guilty of this as well mainly due to their insecurities and poor leadership skills. This behavior however has created an environment that is toxic, unsupportive and dangerous. I have noticed this trend where female supervisors perpetuate the same behavior that they have found problematic in men. When given a modicum of power and responsibility, they become like the very oppressors they have fought against for years. While I understand that this need to align ones female identity with male power structures can be a symptom of patriarchy, I am starting to wonder gender plays as much a role as access to power and its contaminating effects on human relationships.
As a black male social worker working within a predominately white female agency, I realize that I will never be truly supported here. I will have to seek support and validation elsewhere. Here I will only get pushback and skepticism. Knowing this I will focus on the unique skill set in which I bring to the agency while keeping my eye on the end goal which is the effective delivery of services to the client system. I will continue to explore how the aforementioned dynamics affect my motivation to provide quality care and service and make adjustments as necessary while formulating an exit strategy in case the nonsense gets too much to put up with. I will find support outside of my place of employment. I will also continue to carve out a space at the table by asserting my identity as a black male social worker even more now than I have been as I have realized that my silence will not keep me safe. In working at a predominately white female agency, this is a lesson I am forced to learn time and time again.
