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.
Unwelcoming Environment
I am an older woman who decided to enter the corporate world because the career I had chosen was no longer viable due to the extreme amount of physical labor it took to complete each day.
Those work experiences and the surrounding atmosphere made me leave at least 2 employers - both of them actually large non-profit corporations.
I would have stayed if I weren't judged.
I had a run-in with a prima donna coworker who was not really liked by many, but was valued by the executives because he brought in a significant portion of the business.
My experiences within my organization - which current employees refer to as "the circus" made it very difficult to impress upon my consultants and other organizations the critical nature of our work.
I felt like I was in a safe environment where alternative voices were heard.
This one white male associate was taking off for vacation and dumped his half written brief on me an hour before he was leaving.
I am an African American woman. A colleague (a white male who was new to our office at the time) and I were alone in the workplace when he made a racial remark that I found offensive.
This incident negatively impacted every part of my work life. I felt the lack of support from my superiors and some of my colleagues.
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.
