A letter to Corporate America
By: Patricia Go
Tags: Leadership, Work, Society, Race, America

You’ve Got Some God* Nerves

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In the days after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, as Black Lives Matter protests began, I watched my Twitter and Instagram feeds become inundated with manicured messages from different companies speaking out against systemic racism. My immediate reaction was shock, then optimism because Corporate America was now involved. When Corporate America is involved, capitalism and economics are involved: forces that can turn a movement into a tectonic shift. All shifts in American society happened when capitalism and economics were at risk or because they were the primary force for change.

Black Lives Matter protests and public outcry were echoes of a shift in public perception of what was acceptable and Corporate America was leaning in. Now it’s unclear whether Corporate America was speaking out due to public pressure or it was truly reckoning with the realities of racism; or (more likely) Corporate America understood that anti-Blackness is bad because of Black Americans’ 1.3 trillion dollar spending power. According to Cheryl Grace, Nielsen’s Senior Vice President of Community Alliances and Consumer Engagement, Black Americans’ “buying power [is] on par with many countries’ gross domestic products,[and will] continue to outpace spending nationally.” Whatever the reason, I was also here for it because it created an opportunity for Black employees to be heard.

If you are like me—Black and in Corporate America—you were probably asked to speak at multiple company-wide or firm-wide panels; write and share your perspectives on systemic racism (or racial inequity); or expand the remit of the Black employee resource group (ERG) you manage and drive your organization’s internal response. Somehow, we are expected to do all of this, get deliverables done, educate White employees, and process the trauma associated with your community in peril. It’s exhausting, but also impossible to not take on; it’s an opportunity for us to use our voice for the first time. When you have never been given a voice in an all-white institution, and then leadership hands you a whole mic and amplifier, you have to use that shit.

But then, I started to get annoyed. Why did it take a Black man’s life being snuffed out like a cigar by a White man’s knee for Black employees to be given a voice? Like these very corporations and firms with their neatly manicured public statements against systemic racism in policing, didn’t realize that for many Black employees, they are the equivalent of the police when it comes to Black employment and advancement.

Corporate America’s culture of bias, microaggressions and discriminatory hiring practices are the collective “knee” on many Black professionals’ careers, inhibiting their advancement and snuffing out opportunities to close the already widening wealth gap.

Many Black professionals during the hiring process can speak to the impact their names have on landing an interview, then during the interview process being told “you are not a cultural fit” despite your credentials and solid (phone) interviews. Once you are in the door, many Black employees in Corporate America are overworked and underpaid. Many Black females are relegated to shrinking themselves to not be perceived as aggressive or intimidating. The temerity of Corporate America to speak out about systemic racism without acknowledging what’s happening in their own organizations is baffling. Their public statements are antithetical to the current state of their organizations.

This is largely what I heard from Corporate America:

“We stand with the Black community in its fight against racial injustice.” – VC Funds (that cared to speak out). Then why is it that -- you have failed to invest in Black start-ups despite their business models peering with your other successful investments? And why are your Black investors not given board positions or the power to write checks?

“We must support our Black colleagues and the Black community in this fight.” - Private Consulting Firms (internally to their employees). Then why is it that -- your Partnership is consistently between 1- 3% Black and your attrition rate so high?

“We stand against systematic racism and join the fight with our Black sisters and brothers.” - Public Companies (that love to use us in their commercials). Then why is it that -- there are only five Black CEOs in America right now. In all there have only been 18 black CEOs on the Fortune 500 lists since 1999?

“We must join the fight against systemic racism and do our part.” – Tech Companies. Then why is it -- your most senior Black employees are relegated to Diversity & Inclusion roles, and if we are lucky, a CMO figure head?

Corporate America, you can start by fixing your internal Black employment and advancement issues if you are really leaning in. The underbelly of Corporate America is plagued by racially fueled microaggressions and bias (sometimes blatant racism) which drives Black professionals out of the workforce and into becoming entrepreneurs. Currently there are nearly 2.6 million African-American-owned businesses in the U.S. Black people are flocking to entrepreneurship and it’s not because we are suddenly more creative or innovative. It’s because it is an economic imperative.

For those of us who have survived in Corporate America, we only do so because we have learnt the game and have built strong White male sponsorship. The rest of us are just straight up unaware corporate masochists and like to struggle. I understand navigating these times and figuring out how your organization should respond can be daunting. So, I have outlined things that will not help us and things that will have a transformative impact.