Shade Thrown At Maxine Waters Sparks Epic #BLACKWOMENATWORK Campaign on Twitter

People sometimes call me brave or inspirational because I make a living as a content creator. I always respond, “this life chose me, I didn’t choose this life.” Entrepreneurism was never in my plans. On the contrary I did everything I was supposed to do to successful. I completed high school, college, and graduate school, and yet I could never make it work in the white man’s world. These folks never wanted me in their offices and made it clear I was unwelcome at every turn. My crime? Competency.

Before securing a position as a faculty assistant at Harvard Business school (a position I took after leaving a 6-year stint as a manager), I interviewed for a more senior position. I went through about 4 or 5 rounds of interviews (which is normal for Higher Education) before getting to the guy who was to make the final call. By the end of this interview, the Professor to whom I would have ultimately reported said with a smirk, “Wow, you’re confident aren’t you?”

I knew then I wouldn’t get the job.

And I didn’t. I was relegated to a position that was far beneath me both in responsibility and salary, and watched as one white woman after another took the position that should have been mine.

There, are, however, plenty of Black women who “make it” in white spaces. These women, I believe, possess a quality I do not: the ability to disarm white people.

And then there are the Maxine Waters of the world.  The women who give not a single solitary damn, and we are here for it.

I am a strong black woman and I cannot be intimidated.

Yesterday, Activist Brittany Packnett, launched the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork, after two all too familiar instances of White men trying to publicly shame and degrade powerful  black women.

Here’s what happened:

  • On an episode of Fox & Friends, Bill O’Reilly said this about Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.)’s comments about Donald Trump:

I didn’t hear a word she said. I was looking at the James Brown wig…Do we have a picture of James Brown? It’s the same wig.”

Watch it Here:

  • Then, White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer,  asked a journalist and grown ass woman, April Ryan, Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, to stop shaking her head while he answered a question during the daily press briefing.

    “April, hold on, it seems like you’re hell-bent on trying to make sure that whatever image you want to tell about this White House stays…I’m sorry, please stop shaking your head again.”

    Watch it HERE:

Yup. And if you’re a black woman in the working world these two examples aren’t new. Indeed, black women took to twitter to share their own stories using the #blackwomenatwork hashtag. Take a look:

#BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag

#BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag #BLACKWOMENATWORK-hasthag

Share your #blackwomenatwork experiences below!

 

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