Haterade

One of my African American sisters got promoted to a management position within my department recently. If any of you have wondered just what it is I do when I'm not blogging, I am part of the fund raising and development department of a major university. We talk to donors, alumni, and basically, people with ca$h and persuade them through various ways to fund the many university projects.

I walked around to the sister's office, hugged her, and told her congratulations. There are only 3 black managers in my entire 82 member department. I know how hard it is for a black person to get to that position so, I tried to be supportive. All three of the black managers in my department are females... that says something too but, that's another post for another day.

I wasn't out of her office a hot minute before my phone started ringing. It was a friend of mine, another black woman from across campus. I'll call her D. and her ear is always to the ground. She asked me, "Keith, is it true what I'm hearing?" I sighed and said, "What are you hearing?" She said, "I heard that T.J. got promoted to manager in your department." I said, "No grass grows under your feet D. That's right, she starts today." Then, she said, "That's a damn shame. How did they promote HER? She's not even that knowledgeable." I sighed again and said, "Well, somebody thought so... they gave her the position." She replied, "I can't believe they promoted her... she's not that bright, you know."

Why do we as black people do that to each other? Why can't we be supportive of each other rather than tear each other down? The woman that got promoted is going to have enough eyes and stress on her from the white faculty members. Isn't that enough without having scorn from one of her own?

You should know that D. has applied for several jobs at the university. She says she is at a point where she needs to "run something." She's not worried about money... she just wants to run a department, be a manager, and have a title. In the past year, she has applied for three positions and has been turned down for each one of them. The interviewers said that she was pushy, brash, and her writing skills weren't up to par. Some of that is true but, a lot of it is b.s.

There are several pushy white women (and men) in a lot of high positions. Justifiably, D. feels slighted and the victim of racial prejudice. She may well be but, she's turned a lot of her disappointment inward to the point that, when somebody black gets a position, she always tears into them and questions their capabilities.

She drank a big bottle of Haterade and it's just got to stop. We've got to be more righteous with each other. "We" are all we've got and if we can't celebrate each other's success in this dog-eat-dog world then, who will?

Come on folks. Stop the hate!