I Survived a Black, White-Supremacist Workplace Culture

Let me rephrase the title: I am surviving and healing from working in Black-White-Supremacist cultures. It is an ongoing process of acknowledging traumas, regaining confidence and passion, and letting go of the things I cannot control. 

Part of the healing process is sharing my experiences and listening to others. In my work with Legacy72, I have talked to many folks across various industries and heard horror stories of organizations led by oppressive and intransigent Black leaders who squash the Black brilliance that would otherwise flourish. 

Few things are more destructive to one’s psyche or as virulent than a Black-White-Supremist workplace culture. 

I will describe the tenets of Black-White-Supremist workplace culture, although I need not drone on in a long jeremiad for those who have worked in such cultures. To be touched by the sinister mist that is Black-White-Supremacy is to feel its coldness in one's soul, deeply, indelibly. 

Before I go further, allow me to write directly to the readers:

For my white readers, I invite you to the discussion, although I do so not as the sole doorperson. My kinfolk offer collective permission to enter or disallowance as they see fit. The ground rules, and there are many swirling at the top of my mind, as well as to come: listen with humility and utter your curiosity only when personally invited. Don’t take it personally if folks rescinded the invitation to inquire; maybe take it a bit personally. The white gaze is a tiresome deterrent, unrelenting, exhausting – spaces like this, on the other (Black) hand, relieve our careworn shoulders. So, enter it with respect for humanity.

To my readers who identify as Black, enter this space only if you deem it safe. I offer my vulnerability to signal safety. 

What Happens in a Black-White-Supremacy Culture?

The Black-White-Supremacy culture has all the trappings of all things culturally uplifting: the flowery amalgam of words that make up its mission are posted as strawmen, flimsy, and detached from what happens daily. Without much digging, the truth is unearthed; one must indeed dig to find tightlipped, dejected employees cannibalizing one another to grasp praise and positions that are just as hazy as the illusion that they are a cohesive team.

Dig deeper, and you’ll find comfortable, privileged leadership, the Black-White-Supremasicts, intentionally stirring chaos. Hiding not-so-subtly in the shadows wielding power to right the mess – but that would require their discomfort, at the very least, and their departure at most. Often, both are necessary to right the ship.

There are frustrated middle managers positioned to police the underlings, betwixt bystander apathy and voluntary inaction, only afforded, at the whim of the dragon’s claw, a sword crafted for their hands, infused with minuscule doses of power. Their blades are heavy and twisted, one edge sharp enough to cut off the tongues of naysayers, the other too dull to pierce the skin of the dragons.

On their perches, the dragons sit, grandstanding with Black-liberation buzzwords, descending from their leader's lair only to ensure the chaos continues amongst their subordinates. The dragons purposefully incite strife to conceal their fear of being outed as ineffective and forgotten. 

Suppose we were to assign academic language to describe what I and others have experienced; the poisonous offspring of Black-White-Supremacy culture are as follows: Right to comfort perfectionism, defensiveness, quantity over quality, leader worship, paternalism, power hoarding, and emphasis on progress and expansion rather than quality. 

Their antidotes are ignored, for the dragon’s heavily melanated dermis and coiled hair offer disguises that would paint Hollywood’s makeup artist envy green. Yet, there is no disguise as devilish as white supremacy in Black flesh.

Another analogy I heard someone use to describe their experience working in a Black, White-Supremacist Workplace Culture is like working on a plantation governed by our “kinfolk,” and overseers punish those who speak up. 

Why are we cruel to our own? I do not know. I have pushed myself to be less understanding about this phenomenon and more demanding of respect and dignity. 

You Are Not Alone

In their phenomenal study to examine employees' stress in workplaces across America, Dewe, O’Driscoll, and Cooper found that 51% of employees experience debilitating stress, anxiety, insomnia, and depression linked to working in abusive and toxic work environments. People of color, those differently abled, or those tokenized in their field experience those same issues at a higher rate. 

Additionally, you’ll see a tight-lipped workforce; only 40% of employees whose stress interferes with work have talked to their employer about it. The percentage is staggeringly low for people of color. 

Research brings to light the implications of work-related stress (WRS), and thus, corporate employers, executives, supervisors, and human resource professionals are focusing more attention and resources to reduce workplace stress among their Black employees. 

I am curious to understand further, in formal academic terms, the phenomenon that is Black-White Supremacist culture. I have not found many studies to uncover WRS felt by Black employees who work under a manager/leader with the same racial identity. For now, we rely on anecdotes and personal experiences – which we have plenty of.

Why Do We Stay?

In my work to help Black folks heal from trauma experienced in the workplace,  I pose this question to the participants. The answers vary. Here is my best attempt to summarize what I hear:

• We stay because of the grandiose illusion that we can sway a stubborn world in the direction we imagine.

• We stay because the organization's cause is noble.

• We stay because of internalized racism. We cannot imagine bosses treating Black bodies with respect and dignity. 

• We stay because of our paycheck.

When I hear these reasons, I picture an ancient symphony of ancestral urgings lodged into our spirits, telling us to press on despite discomfort. We press on because it’s in our blood. 

Trauma is tricky, and I am re-interpreting the symphony. We may lead the revolution on a different battleground. We tirelessly raise our brown-faced children in the classrooms or our households. So perhaps the revolution is the good trouble we strike up in our homes, neighborhoods, businesses, churches, temples, and mosques. To take a breath every day is a hommage to our ancestors, and on the battlegrounds mentioned above, we are needed whole and energized rather than pieced together and troubled. 

I now imagine an assembly of ancestors, donned in white, majestic, regal, enlightened with the secrets of earthly existence, and in a choral whisper, dispensing wisdom to us terrestrials. They say, “Though strife-filled and a tiny fraction of our eternal existence, our time in flesh-covered humanity is meant to be had richly and joyously. Living thusly, rather than fighting for respect and dignity at work, is the actual noble and righteous cause.”. 

How Do We Move On?

In my work with Brilliant Conversations, our brilliant conversationalists share ways to heal from the trauma of working in a Black-White-Supremacist culture. Here are their ideas. 

1. Get out: There is no place we should voluntarily subject ourselves to abuse. None. Move forward. Do so with urgency, or else you will unlock a version of yourself that is unrecognizable and unwell.

2. Share your story: Perpetrators of Black-White-Supremacist culture rely on your silence. They want you disoriented and docile. Speak up and speak out. Discuss your experience with a group of supporters. At Legacy72, we have Brilliant Conversations to facilitate the healing for folks who have experienced all forms of WRS. Contact us if you think Brilliant Conversations would be helpful.

3. Forgive yourself: You may feel upset about opting into and staying in a Black-White-Supremacist culture. It is ok. 1) During the recruitment process, it may be challenging to understand the depth of such a culture. 2) we all have various motivations for staying. We cannot change the past but prioritize psychological safety in the present and future. I suggest writing a self-care letter and encouraging yourself to reclaim your mental health.  

4. Remember that you are worthy: Black-White-Supremacist will tell you you are unworthy of respect, dignity, and psychological safety. Those are myths from the pits of everything unholy and unhelpful. Shake off those notions. 

5. Seek professional help: Workplace trauma is trauma. To facilitate your healing, you may need a professional to help you work through your experience. 

6. Memorialize your healing with something creative: You can paint or draw something majestic or straightforward. Write a song, write in your journal. Create a vlog. Start a business.

7. Pray for and forgive the leader(s) and peers who caused harm: This is hard but necessary. Your next assignment needs you to be joyous and whole. It is difficult to do so when you’re harboring anger toward others. Anger and bitterness cannot exist where there is forgiveness.

One of the most impactful ways to address work-related stress is to discuss your experiences with a community of people with similar experiences. At Legacy72, our Brilliant Conversations are conversation-based learning experiences that promote mental wellness and racial, cultural, and gender equity within workplace environments. 

If you would like to discuss how Legacy72 can come alongside you to promote mental wellness in your workplace, contact us at info@legacy72.co

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