“To be a black professional is often to be alone. Most black doctors, lawyers, journalists, and so on — those in white-collar positions that require specialized training and credentialing — work in environments where they are in the racial minority. This comes with challenges. Beyond outright discrimination, which many still face, there are psychological costs to being one of just a few black faces in a predominantly white environment. In a study of black professional workers in a number of different occupations, I found that these employees worked to carefully manage their emotions in ways that reflected the racial landscapes they inhabited. In particular, black professionals had to be very careful to show feelings of conviviality and pleasantness, even — especially — in response to racial issues. They felt that emotions of anger, frustration, and annoyance were discouraged, even when they worked in settings where these emotions were generally welcomed in certain contexts—think litigators interacting with opposing counsel, or financial analysts responding to a stressful day on Wall Street. Interestingly, this often played out at trainings meant to encourage racial sensitivity. Many of the black professionals I interviewed found that diversity trainings — intended to improve the work environment for minorities — actually became a source of emotional stress, as they perceived that their white colleagues could use these trainings to express negative emotions about people of color, but that they were expected not to disclose their own honest emotional reactions to such statements.”

Source: Adia Harvey Wingfield. “Being Black — But Not Too Black — In The Workplace.” The Atlantic. October 14, 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/10/being-black-work/409990/.

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