So, after years of carrying the torch, of being the only black male professional at work, we finally got a new black hire at the job. Let the heavens rejoice! Initially upon hearing the news, I was ecstatic. I was beside myself with frenetic joy. Finally after years of holding down the fort another black man, a brother emerges from out the shadows of hollow pledges and performative equity. Instantly I imagined all the things we were going to do to revamp the agency, to reawaken the sleeping giant of diversity. In hindsight I think I may have jumped the gun. I guess only time will tell for sure. As of now I wonder what the future holds for both myself and the other black male hire.
Once our team got wind of the possibility of there being a new black hire, a couple of things started to happen. First, white employees began to look frantically for other white people they could refer for the position. They tried to disguise their bias under the guise of wanting someone with more “mental health experience” despite the advertisement calling for a simple credential but OK. When they could not produce a prospective white hire, they next began to panic about seating arrangements. One white female employee suggested the new hire be placed in a lonely cubicle designated for our interns. Now initially this employee was very adamant about saving the seat next to her for the new hire. However when she found out it would be a black male, all of a sudden she wanted to have him sit somewhere else. Are you seeing where I am going with this? Not yet? Well stay tuned.
Once the new hire started, all of a sudden you began to see the compensatory kindness of white people start to emerge. They became overly friendly, overly helpful and ingratiating towards the new hire. They smiled so hard and so generously I thought their teeth would bleed from the tension. They literally went out of their way to show the new hire things almost to the point of being intrusive and turning themselves into nuisances. As I watched each of them twirl around the office, going the extra mile to mask their covert bias, I began to privately laugh. I thought “if only this guy knew what he was actually in for”.
The thing about white kindness when offered in the context of professional settings is that most of the time it can come across as performative and disingenuous. When extended to black people within work settings, white kindness can be excessive bordering on inauthentic. It is a social cosmetic, a keen tool used to cover up hidden biases.
What I have learned during my time at this job is that when white people are excessively nice to you, watch out, because that is when you are being set up. They try to lift you up just to watch you fall from higher elevations. Right now the new black hire is green to the agency. According to Dr. Kecia Thomas’ ingenious thesis on what she refers to as the “pet-to-threat phenomenon”, the new hire is now the agency pet, someone new, teachable, able to be schooled, malleable and impressionable. Once the new hire becomes proficient in his role that is when he will be seen as a threat and therefore someone that requires constant surveillance, monitoring, screening even after years of adequately performing his role. Once he becomes familiar with his role on the team, he will be unduly challenged, constantly undermined and devalued. His white coworkers will always look for new ways to disagree with him. Their contrariness will be deliberate and relentless. They will test his patience as a way to break his spirit. But first they will deploy their kindness as a way to gain his allegiance. Their initial goal is to gain his trust before they remove their masks to show their true colors.
I have witnessed this firsthand while observing the way a coworker has tried to ingratiate himself to the new black hire. First the coworker tried to connect with him via sports using this as a tool of engagement. He hoped to find common ground as a means of gaining the new black hires trust. Next the coworker explored the new black hires interests and hobbies, finding out his favorite movie as a way to connect with him and uncover what makes him tick. On the surface this will appear as though he’s taking an active interest in him however it’s the motivation for this sudden interest that raises the eyebrow of suspicion. It is obviously strategic. Next my coworker offered overdoses of unwanted support. I mean he literally forced his help on the new black hire. He inserted himself in places he didn’t belong all under the guise of being “helpful”. This is how he gains the allegiance of the new hire while at the same time making it covertly known that the new hire is in his debt and will eventually owe him when it comes time to collect. This is how the white employee keeps the new black hire in his back pocket.
I watch all of this and apart of me wants to warn the new black hire. I want to tell them “Run! Do not drink the Kool-Aid. Do not think they are your friends here. Stay informed. Stay guarded. Protect yourself”. I want to say all these things but I know that doing so would only make me look like the jaded bitter employee. I have learned to let certain dynamics unfold naturally.
Additionally, I was hoping that the new black hire would be more assertive, more in your face, more militant as this is how I feel inside and am looking for someone to represent/share my current state of mind. So far the new hire seems to be dutifully submissive as during a recent transaction he worked so hard to assure the white coworker who sits next to him that he would do anything the agency wanted. Right now he seems to be more Chicken George than Malcolm X but I guess apart of being a new hire is to fit in, learn the agency culture, build relationships and take in as much information as you can about the agency before you burn it down. I get that. I am hoping that with more time and experience, we can work together to undo the culture of white prominence that exists at my place of business. In the meantime, I will continue to keep my nose to the grindstone and increase my knowledge, skills and abilities hoping that more black people show up so we can begin to undo the cycles of oppression that continue to interrupt the presence of black excellence within predominately white work spaces.
