Labels and Stereotypes - Translated: The Excuses

As promised, this chain of posts is going from examining racist labels and stereotypes in the workplace, to taking a probing look at some of the excuses coworkers, supervisors or employers use to justify “miscommunication” about some of these issues. The first employer alibi we're looking at is…

I/He/She/We Didn’t Mean It That Way

This form of denial just means that a coworker, supervisor or employer (as a whole) has decided to paint a Black employee as being sensitive or as misunderstanding something that was said to them.

You see, even though most African Americans don’t speak Swahili or some other African language, African Americans—for whom English is our native tongue—somehow have a problem that causes us to routinely “misunderstand” negative things that have been said to us and about us. We can repeat what was said and how it was said—using exact quotes—however, what was said to us is…

not what I/he/she/we meant to say!

What’s funny is, when someone is being disrespectful, they are normally very clear about it. They want another person to know how much contempt and vitriol they have for that individual. And, that is exactly what they convey in their language. Yet, after confronting someone about racist stereotyping and labeling, Black workers are often told that everything was just a simple misunderstanding—on their part!

What I/He/She/We really meant was…and then we get the 180 degree different version of what was said.

Tomorrow’s employer alibi will be…

Don’t Take It That Way