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Passive acceptance and willful ignorance only serve to strengthen the insidious nature of discrimination and racism within an agency culture.
A couple years into my time at [.redacted][agency][.redacted], I began to witness racial discrimination on an increasingly regular basis. One by one, we noticed our few Black colleagues being let go for “attitude problems,” and the ones who remained eventually quit as the office became such a hostile environment for BIPOC. The fewer Black coworkers we had, the less cautious people were with their words. As a non-Black POC, people felt okay saying certain things around me that they wouldn’t necessarily say with a Black voice in the room, which unfortunately, became 95% of the time.
I’ll admit, I was ignorant to a lot of offenses thrown at my Black coworkers. But at a certain point, it became so blatant, it felt wrong not to speak up. What seemed like clear-cut racism to me, others would do mental gymnastics to convince themselves certain actions and words were completely innocent, and no offenses had been made.
Whenever my AD and I spoke up, we were belittled, spoken down to, and given the “welcome to advertising” talk. Leading up to this point, I had never witnessed racism in the workplace to this degree—not at any of the five agencies I had previously worked at. I’ve been on dozens of shoots and handled countless casting calls, and never once did I hear such disrespect for the non-white talent as was spewed at [.redacted][agency][.redacted]. Our boss’ response when we called it out was to ask if this was our first casting session, using the most condescending voice. This was an important teaching moment, and instead of learning how to navigate through these complex situations, we were taught to suck it up and grow a thicker skin because that’s just how the industry is.
Rather than dare to confront racism, we were always made to adjust any behavior that might make one aware of their own racist tendencies. After several attempts to work with leadership to amend these issues, we had no other option but to resign.
“The fewer Black coworkers we had, the less cautious people were with their words. As a non-Black POC, people felt okay saying certain things around me that they wouldn’t necessarily say with a Black voice in the room…”
Different minority groups carry with them unique biases and assumptions for the dominant racial group. Racist or discriminatory behavior, therefore, can be hyper-targeted or vary between certain groups, to the point where some BIPOC’s could be seen as ‘one of us’ vs. another targeted group. This perception may also manifest within certain minority groups, as some group member may be designated as outliers or the ‘exception to the rule’ depending on if or to what extent they have been able to assimilate to the majority group’s behavior or culture.
The impact on those POCs exposed to but not targeted by racist and discriminatory comments can be profound. Feelings of confusion, anger or even betrayal may arise as they become more acutely aware of their own minority status and conflicted as to how to react or with which group to identify with, in that particular moment and beyond.
“Our boss’ response when we called it out was to ask if this was our first casting session…This was an important teaching moment…we were taught to suck it up and grow a thicker skin because that’s just how the industry is”.
The act of ‘sucking it up’ and growing ‘thicker skin’ are well-trodden expressions in an industry known for pushing boundaries and testing personal limits. The culture has supported these notions and attributed a good degree of ‘bad behavior’ as simply par for the course. It can then become commonplace to sweep incidents of racism and discrimination under the rug or dismiss it as BIPOCs’ proclivity toward being oversensitive or misreading overall intentions.
BIPOCs, however, are relatively adept at compromising or being overly patient in the face of various forms of ignorance and bigotry, an ability developed though navigating life as a minority in this country. When such incidents occur in the workplace, the impact is compounded by a general acceptance of certain industry norms vs. developing a greater understanding of BIPOC’s unique ability to recognize unfair treatment and taking the necessary actions to address it.
“Rather than dare to confront racism, we were always made to adjust any behavior that might make one aware of their own racist tendencies…we had no other option but to resign.”
In agencies where DEI deficits and issues are deeply engrained in the culture, the burden to change, shift, or compromise can often fall disproportionately on that agency’s BIPOC employee population. The imbalance in dedicated time, energy, and resources toward addressing such issues has a compounding, negative effect on BIPOCs who lack the necessary agency leadership support and advocacy to create significant change. Ultimately, this imbalance can contribute to a gradual yet continuous breakdown of BIPOC’s mental, emotional and even physical well-being, resulting in an overall agency workforce that is being depleted of one of its most precious resources.
