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.
Mistaken Identity
I have a co-worker whose office is next to mine. We both have braids in our hair and are dark-skinned.
In the elevator of an international hotel one man assumed I was a flight attendant over any of the thousands of other occupations that exist. How odd that he would guess flight attendant over lawyer, business woman, even hotel manager. He had a preconceived notion of the careers a young female in a suit could have and a flight attendant was the most I could amount to. My male, Caucasian colleagues thought it was hilarious and laughed. A few even thought it was an honest and legitimate mistake.
There were a few black men in our department who didn't look anything alike, except they all happened to be black.
During an interview, I was waiting in the lobby and people would come by obviously looking for someone but not even stopping to glance at me.
I've had phone conversations with people who I've never met and then when we meet in person they would say to me, "You don't sound like you look.
There was one associate who was so rude and brushed me aside because he assumed I was an overly friendly secretary.
I worked with a particular senior attorney for years and one morning I went into his office to talk to him.
Audit time came and the records of the white man I was replacing were all disorganized. Numbers didn't balance. Thing didn't add up. Because I replaced him, my boss was coming to me to find information for the auditors.
There were three black women in the organization and we all had short hair. I would always be called by their names. At one point, I just said, "I am not either of those women. Even though I have shor
I'm always making Dr. Martinez' arrangements, because people think I'm my own secretary. They don't expect me, a Puerto Rican, to be a doctor. I pretend like I'm my own secretary. I think I'm coming d
