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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
Herminda Izquierdo's Experiences
I left because I wanted to go part time and that just wasn't in the cards. I was trying to have a baby. The funny thing is that when I asked if I could go part time they said, "No, no. If you want to work part time then other people will want to work part time." I said I understood and that I was leaving to go work in a non-profit.
I worked as a journalist until I got tired of being poor and then I went back to work in a law firm. I thought it was a job that would pay well enough that I could work for three or four years and then quit to write the great Mexican-American novel.