Three Ways That Well-Meaning “Advice” to Black People Contribute to Work Place Bullying

I am about to end my series on work place bullying, Black edition. It has been eye-opening, fun, and healing. I have written this series with the hope that it has helped somebody somewhere set themselves free of a toxic workplace, even if that workplace is majority-Black or majority-woman or majority-LGBTQ. Bully culture knows no boundaries, and we should not be subject to it, even for the almighty dollar.

Dear Reader, I have been very, VERY hesitant to write this last installment on workplace bullying, Black folk edition. However, I wouldn’t be myself if I weren’t true to myself. And to you, Dear Reader. I do not want to waste your time with fluff content for claps and pennies. I truly want to help somebody get free! With that said, I am not going to paint Black bosses/leaders or Black people with a broad brush stroke here. There are great Black leaders and great Black employees all over the United States. I WILL NOT demonize them. I am only speaking about bad actors in the work space.

Furthermore, I am speaking to outdated advice that young, Black employees receive from older people. As time progresses, we are entering into careers that were not always available to Black people. Some of us, for the first time in our lives, are starting to live and not merely survive. We are taking advice from survival mode, when Black folk were happy to obtain a non-subservient job, and using this in professional spaces. For many of us, it’s not…