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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.
Charlene Clark's Experiences
I worked for a major health insurance provider when one of the Asian directors of a small research unit was hiring multiple Asian employees.
I had been with this particular company for almost eight years when I was told that the director of the department was planning to retire and I was next in line.
Another employee who had had been with the company for 18 years applied for a different position within the company but didn't get it so she started working for me.
When I was working on Wall Street, I actually had a boss say to me, "You know, you are the best on the floor but we can only give you a 2% raise.