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.
Rudeness
How dare he...
After working 3 or 4 full weekends I came in for a check-in with my boss. He hardly looked up, blurted out the response which was hardly helpful, waived his arm at me and then said, "Go do whatever it is you do..." Well, that sure did make me feel lousy for the rest of the day.
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.
