ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE: Racial Provocateurs Can Cause Tension and Future Problems in the Office

Outright racists can cause a lot of problems in the workplace. But, there are other types of people that can initiate race-based problems in the workplace. And, these individuals sometimes present more of a challenge, when it comes to proving allegations of race-based misconduct/bias. I’m referring to racial provocateurs in the workplace.

The problem, as I’ve witnessed it, is that far too many people don’t think about what they are saying in the workplace. The problem also includes far too many people who are intentionally provocative and going out of their way to push race-related hot buttons at work. There are a lot of so-called “innocent” comments made that cause a whole lot of race-related tensions to jump off in the office.

I’m not sure how often White workers really give deep thought to the racially loaded things they say to their Black coworkers, as well as the racially loaded questions they ask. And, don’t get me started on racially-laced comments that some Whites will openly make about their Black coworkers. I have often been amazed at how freely some Whites will make comments in the workplace, which have racial overtones. Their comments can be very provocative (a.k.a. insulting, incendiary, confrontational, etc.)

Racial provocateurs are the types of individuals, who while they haven’t done anything blatantly racist, may have said certain things that tap dance along the line of what is racist and what is not. These individuals continuously say things that are slightly or moderately troublesome to Black workers, but that won’t raise any suspicions among Whites. As a result, these are the types of White coworkers, supervisors/managers or executives that will prompt the defensive response, “Oh, I don’t think he/she is like that” following a complaint from a Black worker.

The reality is that some Whites know how to work and manipulate that borderline better than others. While some outrights racists are so full of loathing for Blacks that they don’t take any precautions in trying to hide their motivation for denying a promotion, recommending a suspension, etc., others are more savvy and covert. In fact, they can even throw off many of their Black coworkers. The racial provocateur is often artful at dodging the label of an outright racist.

Nevertheless, these individuals are capable of initiating a chain of events that quickly take on a prominent race-based tone and that can spiral into a race-based issue that impacts one staffer, an entire segment of a department or even larger numbers of employees.

When Black workers must have a continued relationship with Whites who REPEATEDLY make racially incendiary comments, tension often builds and an environment of suspicion can begin to develop. The Black worker rightly or wrongly may perceive this person as a closet racist and the person very may well be. However, there isn’t any explicit proof that will be acted upon by an HR department or supervisor because many of their comments will be explained away or the Black worker will be labeled as hypersensitive and overreacting to their White coworker. And, often, the White worker presents a reasonable pretext to explain away any racial intent or harm caused by their words or actions.

Here are real examples that I’ve seen or heard about causing tensions to rise between Black and White coworkers or within a department:

-- A white mid-level manager walks into a room, where only Black low-level workers are present, and says, “I came to crack the whip.” The White manager even flicks her wrist and makes a cracking noise after she makes the comment. She then laughs. When Blacks complain, the White manager says that it’s just an “expression.” There’s an attempt to downplay the historical context and to downplay that everyone in the room was Black. However, after hearing of the complaint from Black staff, this same White manager CONTINUES to make this remark solely to the same Black workers—and never to Whites (although it is supposedly one of her common expressions). Why? What is the purpose of repeating something that has negatively impacted your coworkers? Repeating remarks, which you don’t feel are offensive, but have been told are offensive is a very provocative action.

-- A white coworker walks up to a Black coworker, who wears dreadlocs, and reaches out (without permission) and grabs one of the locs, sneers her face, and asks, “Eww! What is this? Can you wash it?” The “Eww!” and “What is this?” are clearly an offensive way of reacting to an ethnic hairstyle. The Black worker is almost forced into a defensive reaction regarding the hairstyle. Following the exchange, the White worker makes it a point to openly stare and frown at the hairstyle and to stand an exaggerated distance away from the Black worker—as if she is too disgusted by her to dare go any closer. The comment and behavior after the exchange are very incendiary and will have served the point of creating the perception that this White person has issues with Black culture, and, therefore, Black people. The comment about hair combined with the negative reaction will serve as a piece of background noise in future exchanges between these individuals.


-- When Black workers complain about the manner in which they are given an assignment, a White mid-level manager comments that she doesn’t understand the problem because the Black workers are only doing “monkey work.” Obviously, this remark doesn’t go over well to a group of Black people. Blacks have lived with the comparison to apes, monkeys, and other primates. Go and look at the early depictions of Blacks in cartoons and other visual mediums. Blacks have long had their intelligence questioned by Whites with a superiority complex. So, any monkey remark is going to bring appearance and intellect into question—regardless of the so-called intent of the person making the comment. To compare work solely being done by Blacks as “monkey work” is not cool and is likely going to cause problems in future interactions between the people involved.

In each of these examples, the individuals involved began to have issues working together and the issues often escalated in nature. The White worker never apologized and often became defensive about the implication that they made a racist or insensitive remark. They wouldn’t take ownership of the issue and actually began to behave in a very indignant manner. The Black workers often figured they had the White person begged as a closet racist and began to see and hear racist actions and comments with more and more frequency. One thoughtless comment and a reaction that adds fuel to the fire or marginalizes any damage caused by careless remarks can send everyone down the path of future race-based confrontations.

That's why employers must be vigilant in policing their workforce and they must be truly vigilant, when listening to and addressing complaints from employees. Something that sounds "petty" can spark a much bigger problem in the future. Racially insenstive remarks aren't usually forgotten--at least by Black workers. Employers must not marginalize racially-loaded language. They must reinforce that they do not tolerate racist behavior or comments and must take action if someone persists in being racially provocative.

Unfortunately, dealing with racially provocative comments from intentionally and unintentionally ignorant coworkers is just one more issue—and distraction—that Blacks must deal with in the workplace.

TELL US ABOUT IT: Has a White coworker made a comment with racial overtones that derailed your relationship or caused you to be suspicious of this person’s perceptions and attitudes towards Blacks? If so, tell us about it. Post a comment or send an email to blackonthejob@yahoo.com.