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Opinion: Working while Black: How anti-Black racism wrecks Black women's workday

Everyone else gets to just go to work; Black women have to battle racism and the backlash that occurs when they speak out.

Black Iowa News

Apr 6
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“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” — Malcolm X, 1962.

If that’s true, then what’s it like to be a Black woman and journalist in Iowa?

It can be pretty rough some days. KCCI-TV reporter Lauren Johnson, a Black woman, found that out this week when she covered an Ankeny School Board meeting to discover why school officials had removed a job posting for a diversity, equity and inclusion opening.

  • Johnson had informed the district before the meeting that she would be in attendance. (Under Iowa law, public meetings should be open to the press.) No advance notice is required.

  • Johnson tweeted that a school security staff member denied her access, citing a capacity of 35 people in the room. She said another school official said she was being too “loud,” which she denied.

  • She detailed her experience in a tweet thread, which currently has more than 30,000 likes and thousands of comments.

“Shame on Ankeny for trying to keep a Black reporter out of the room during a meeting that was literally about diversity, equity and inclusion,” she said in one of the tweets.

School officials had let some people go in, when others exited, she said. Eventually, they let Johnson into the meeting, and she was able to report her story, she said. Johnson tweeted she was “disgusted at the lack of professionalism” she experienced and said journalists of color should “never have to feel like they don’t belong in a space while trying to do their job.”

The Iowa Association of Black Journalists has decried Ankeny’s actions in a statement that reads, in part:

“To make matters worse, the decision to prevent a journalist of color from covering a meeting about the district’s decision to remove a posting for a position that tackles diversity, equity and inclusivity within Ankeny Schools speaks volumes. It also provides another example of why that position may be necessary.”

Association leadership has discussed the issue with school officials.

Ankeny School Superintendent Erick Pruitt on Wednesday released a statement and apologized to Johnson:

Ankeny has experienced increased public interest after a contentious school board election last year and controversies ensued about face mask mandates and banning books, like many other school districts here and elsewhere.

The school board meeting is over now, and the district apologized. The angry Black woman trope, which is highly offensive, clouds the exchange.

It’s always been hard to be a Black woman at work in predominantly white spaces. (Black men and people of color experience it, too). Black women have the added burden of having to always think about other people’s perceptions and try to act accordingly to avoid being reduced to a caricature. Black women have to endure microaggressions about our hair, speech and appearance. Sometimes we endure bona fide racism on the job, and the added pressures certainly don't help our mental health.

Many Black women can probably relate to Johnson’s experience and the conundrum she faced, because speaking up often gets you labeled as loud or perceived as an “angry Black woman.” As Johnson said, she was neither.

  • Look at the hate leveled toward Iowa’s own Hannah Nikole Jones, author of "The 1619 project."

  • Look at the hate leveled toward Jada Pinkett-Smith over a hair-related medical condition and her actions after her husband Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars.

  • Look at the hate leveled toward the highly qualified Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson.

It's misogynoir.

It’s something many Black women have to deal with every day on the job — from journalists, to office workers, to executives to laborers. Anti-Black racism and microaggressive behavior is rampant.

During my early days as a newspaper reporter, I was assigned to travel alone across Iowa, which sparked many safety concerns from my family. I shared my family’s concerns about the dangers a Black woman could face traveling alone through Iowa's tiny towns and lonely roads, but my employer brushed those concerns aside. That was the job. But those worries are a part of the job that others never have to think about. And, I’ve heard from other Black women who have had their accomplishments diminished by calling it a “diversity hire.” We have to deal with a lot just because of the color of our skin.

Black women can’t modulate and enunciate our way out of being perceived as angry Black women. It's on white people to reject tired racial tropes.

These tips come too late to help Johnson. But read them anyway and share them so you don’t ruin another Black woman’s workday.

  1. Retire that tired old “angry Black woman” trope. Allow us to express all of our emotions without question and without micromanaging. When we get angry, you will definitely know.

  2. Take us at our word. We said what we said.

  3. Don’t mention “playing the race card.” It’s not even a real thing.

  4. Don’t gaslight us. If we say it’s microaggressive, it’s microaggressive. If we say it’s racist, it’s racist.

  5. Let us express our full range of feelings. How are you going to tell us how we feel?

  6. Quit tone policing.

  7. Manage your own feelings; Let us manage ours.

  8. Don’t disrespect us and then expect us not to react.

  9. Hear us: We’re not going to shrink to make you feel comfortable — in doorways or boardrooms. We take up space.

  10. When wronged, we are allowed to get angry, to push back and to make demands. That doesn’t make us angry Black women. #tellafriend

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20 Comments

  • Jane Wells
    Writes Wells $treet
    For all that’s wrong with social media, it allows people to shine a light on this. I wonder what, if any, apology Lauren would have received if not for the Twitter thread. My favorite takeaway — “Manage your own feelings; let us manage ours.” Noted!
    2
    • 6w
  • Carl Young
    I respect the article but this includes Black men as well, I live in the Twin Cities and I'm an educated professional and I've had to deal with these micro racial behaviors my entire career especially as a mental health therapist where I work in an env…
    See more
    • 5w
    • Author
      Black Iowa News
      I understand that. It affects us all. I salute you on earning an advanced degree and creating your own business!
      • 5w
      • Edited
    View 2 more replies
  • Marie Graham
    She expected special treatment at the meeting, that nobody else got, just because she is a black woman. She was mad because she didn’t get it and pretended it was racism. Yeah, life is hard.
    4
    • 5w
    • Author
      Black Iowa News
      She likely expected to be able to do her job and not get hit with a racial trope.
      • 5w
  • Barry Desborough
    The American GIs in WWII, stationed in Britain, were issued with a booklet warning them that if a British family invited them into their home for a meal, they might be invited along with "black" GIs too.
    I'm British. The Brits have their racists as we…
    See more
    • 6w
  • Gareth Taylor
    This is bad writing and only comes across as black women can say and do what they want because anyone who says anything different to me is racist. Black people do still struggle to this day and we do need to fight for equality but this woeful writing h…
    See more
    2
    • 5w
    • Author
      Black Iowa News
      Under 10 ways you can help Black women at work, please read all 10 and memorize them and apply them before commenting.
      • 5w
  • Brandi Smith
    So let me get this straight. Black women are supposed to be allowed to do whatever they want and act however they want at all times and without question because of "racism" otherwise? Yeah. No.
    3
    • 5w
    View 1 more reply
    • Author
      Black Iowa News
      We want to be able to do our jobs without being subjected to other people’s racial garbage. That’s how I read it and wrote it.
      • 5w
    View 2 more replies
  • Shauntrice Martin
    Can’t wait to send this to my coworkers
    • 6w
  • Dinesh Kuma R
    Hi 8847566773 call me
    • 6w
  • Colton Crosby
    Asking for preferential treatment is not equality, do better.
    2
    • 5w
    • Author
      Black Iowa News
      Nobody did that. Read the story and then you can do better.
      • 5w
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