Browse Stories
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.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
I went to HR with the problems I had with my supervisor and initially they were very welcoming and wanted to hear my story. I asked them if I could receive coaching on how to deal with a difficult manager. They commended me on coming forward and disclosed that my particular supervisor had a long history of HR issues with multiple other people. Once I began to bring up my supervisor's race-related issues, I realized the HR department didn't know how to deal with the problems I was facing. It was such an uncomfortable situation because HR didn't know how to coach me nor my supervisor. It caused me extreme anxiety that I had to go out on mental disability. Then when I came back to work I was relegated to menial administrative tasks. Meanwhile the temp I had trained before I went out on disability had been promoted.