MENTAL HEALTH AND PEOPLE OF COLOR IN THE WORK PLACE

After centuries of oppression, trauma, and set backs, people of color post-slavery are already at a disadvantage in the race of life from their time of birth. Just this first sentence alone, I know many people will have stopped reading by now.

Why? 

Because it’s, “Here they go again, playing the victim about being Black.” 

And there goes my first gag. And the nucleus of a spiraling continuous cycle of mental duress stemming from just the restriction of not having a safe space to even talk about it.

It’s the “Shut up and deal with it,” reality of people of color that sets the precedence for how we will maneuver this conundrum called life and find a tiny space safe enough to occupy.

So boom! 

We’re thrusted into this unfair reality we are already made aware that we cannot speak of. Then this epigenetic trauma we’re forced to combat even before we even know and understand what epigenetic trauma really is. 

Then deal with the added trauma of a world mostly not accommodating to us simply because of the color of our skin, to being raised by parents without the tools to address said cycling unaddressed trauma. To possibly doing some self work to come to some semblance of awareness, only to find out it doesn’t even matter in terms of how we’re treated and perceived, and that that knowledge was only for the sake of “Now you know.” 

Shut up and sing. Shut up and dance. Shut up and dribble. Shut up and WORK. This is the reality for most of us in our work spaces. 

Imagine having your rights being restructured in the lessons of your Introduction to Reality through parenting to say, “Give up your right just to get out of situations alive.” Case in point; getting pulled over by cops. 

Imagine teaching your daughters to not respond to assault by men just to get out of situations alive. 

Imagine life teaching you everyday to not stand up for yourself, downplay your worth, be accommodating of everything around you at the detriment of your own comfort and needs just for the sake of survival. Just. to. occupy. space.

There is this thing that is done to people of color that I feel does not get enough attention. The assumption that “We can take it.” This feeds into the narrative that we are less than. That our pain isn’t valid or as important as the suffering of others.

I get that our resilience (that is still being tested to this day) got us to where we are now, and we get us a month every year where we are lauded for it. However, what we’d prefer is that our resilience would be honored and respected not taken for granted. 

Speaking from personal experiences in the workplace where I’m exposed to more diversity than living in Jamaica, I find that the expectations of me; to be more professional, be the bigger person, take the high road in situations of conflicts and disagreement where I’m the victim - is vastly different from others around me. 

I have really been thinking about that a lot. How it affects my disposition as a woman of color from a third world country making life in a first world country. I’ve been thinking about how compassion is greatly disproportionate in regards to dealing with the pain of white women as opposed to black women. But the thing I’ve been thinking about mostly, is how does all of this affect the mental health of people of color in professional environments. 

Microaggressions are a tool of modern day systemic racism that has been a culture shock to me because of my new introduction to this very underrated tool of oppression that is used against us. 

My personal experience with this lately has found me in a place of deep reflection and assessment after finding myself in a situation where I’m being harassed, mentally abused and provoked– yet I’m the one who had to become a repetitive broken record of reassurance that I won’t be hostile, aggressive and won’t REACT to being a victim. I find myself in a situation where my needs have to be suppressed and my mental health shunned to be accommodating of a situation that holds me - the victim of this onslaught, to a different standard than it holds the person responsible for this. 

Understand this, whether you’re aware or not, telling black people in situations of conflict and disagreement where they are standing up for themselves or defending themselves; to be the bigger person, you’re better than this, maintain your professionalism as opposed to not addressing the problem itself is abusive, oppressive and discriminatory.

Having the roles shifted on us from victims to villains the moment we stand up for ourselves is abusive, oppressive and discriminatory.

It’s bad enough that because of the obvious variables of setbacks, reprogramming and trauma that our mental health in our very own community is disenfranchised by ignorance, mismanagement, suppression, lack of sensitivity and compassion. Only to defy some odds, endure some shit, beat the statistics, not go prison - just to be mentally abused more in the work place. AND be told directly or indirectly to “deal with it.” 

Stop telling me to bend over backwards and change my perspective to accommodate a world not accommodating to me, just to make my oppressors feel more comfortable. Be the change.

At what point are our concerns met with the same temperament as others? 

At what point does our pain hold the same weight as “white tears?” 

At what point are we valid and valued?

At what point does our mental health matter too? 

—you know, since as a people we love to add “too” to plights of oppression and pain expressed by marginalized groups for the sake of inclusion and the unity of one human race.