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.
Stereotyping
It is assumed that African Americans are less intelligent or worldly. When someone is speaking to you and uses a term they assume you are unfamiliar with, they will give you the definition or explanation without you asking for it.
I was stereotyped as a man hating lesbian, while serving as the manager of a corporate chain restaurant.
There are a lot of people that are gay at my office and they are wide open about it. Most of them are guys so I thought I would fit in but I realized that most of these guys end up self-segregating themselves because the corporate air in my industry puts a whole set of stereotypes if you are gay, which is unspoken, of course.
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.
I can't prove it, but I believe part of the reason I was laid off from my last corporate job was because I am lesbian.
I was hired as a recruiter to bring in more Asian Americans but when I pushed for more resources to recruit in the Asian American community my boss said, "You're not behaving like the Japanese women at my church.
I was talking to my boss once and he got a phone call. After he hung up he looked at me and said, "I just hate Filipino accents.
Sometimes I am provoked into political discussions that lead to uncomfortable situations with co-workers.
Once our off-shoring team in China came into our office and worked with us for several months. When one of the Chinese employees told my boss that they needed more time to finish a project he replied, "Don't you fucking tell me you aren't going to get it done.
Another female colleague and I looked around the brokerage house we worked at and realized the department was being run by men but the two of us were the most educated of the group.
