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.
Retaliation
On the Friday before Christmas a senior associate came to my desk and said that he was "really happy that in this country we have the privilege of using racial slurs, whether it be kite (sic), n**** or rag****." He was happy we could use them because he felt it was the ultimate way to hurt a person. After agonizing over what he said during the holiday party, upon my return to work, I reported the offense to the office administrator. An investigation was done, and it was found that the attorney did, in fact, make racially discriminating statements.
I was given a promotion at a major financial trust company. The promotion turned out to be in title only, my salary was never changed.
I was recruited to help form the first Asian American employee group in our organization. When I went to speak to the general manager about it, he was very uncomfortable and really suspicious.
When I was at a big firm in New York, the economy was great and there were a lot of activities in Asia.
I confronted my boss about the way certain cases were treated. I was really vocal about it. I felt one of the cases was handled very unethically.
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 was the only African-American in their management team and their fund accounting department. I was doing a wonderful job until a survey was sent out to rate our superiors. It was supposed to be confidential.
I think people who make it are the people who can carefully mask their authenticity and go along with whatever their manager wants. I had a manager who would touch my neck in a less than appropriate manner.
All this was going on while my mother's health was in decline. I was also mentally preparing for surgery. Then there was a snafu with the insurance and they declined my surgery. It turned out there was some paperwork that wasn't submitted.
My internal client told someone he didn't think he could work with me after what I did. What did I do? I challenged him in front of 600 people. And I got an award for it the next day. But as my friends would say, challenging him was a career-limiting move.
