life is all about the “cosign”.
imagine how easy you’ll have it if you get a cosign from oprah?
that would be like winning the lottery out here..
sadly,
oprah is busy and we have to find our cosigns through another way.
it led me to wonder…
Do we need a white cosign to get us to the next level?
when you think about all the black folks in the public eye,
they got to the next level being backed by someone white.
realistically,
white folks do hold more power.
they can get you in the door for you to mingle with “your own”.
that is…
if “your own” wants to mingle with you.
there are still levels once you get in there.
a foxholer sent me an article from “the root” that had me thinking.
it was titled,
“you’re more likely to be hired if you’re referred by someone white”.
in a nutshell,
the article broke down how companies hired black applicants if they had a white cosign.
in all my days of working in corporate,
it was facts all day.
black folks i met always made “promises” to get me to the next level.
they always praised how talented i was,
but never showed up to help me advance.
i’ve met blacks who had connects to push me higher,
but they end up cosigning someone white or hispanic.
when i got hired in the jobs i’ve worked,
most of my black colleagues had my back and kept me in the loop.
story time.
one of my first jobs was working under an older black vixen.
i was working as a receptionist/office assistant.
she hired mostly black folks to work with her,
but treated them like shit.
she was nasty af and talked to folks like they was stupid.
folks was straight up quitting on their lunch breaks on the first day.
everyone hated her at the job and she made my life a living hell.
she was trying to fire me on the low,
but it was a white colleague who hired me in his department.
to this day,
she’s still angry that i out smarted her evil ass.
this is the world we live in when trying to reach success.
i’d love one of my “us” to be my “hr prince(ss) charming”,
but some of us still suffer from ‘crab in the barrel’.
what?
so we may need that white cosign to get us in the door.
how we handle it after that is up to us.
lowkey: when you look at all successful blacks,
most of their “come up” stories started by someone white.
am i wrong?
As sickening as it sound but kinda yes. Because, black people sometimes have a tendency not to want other black people to succeed.
Wow on the black male bashing I’m very I’m a vet retired went college I’m articulate and I have a hard work ethic and I still get side eyed by interviewers
I have to smile like a Cheshire Cat and talk super consciously and there’s so much unwarranted hatred aimed at the males
Especially their black males ! I try my best to let my work ethic show and not just rely on saying I’m gay so the females can feel comfortable and the males to feel intimidated
It’s completely unfair and uncomfortable for a male it’s like I have to do my job ignore females side eying me ignore beta men staring at me
Navigate taking to my femalecoworkers for doing my job without giving the energy of a creep a rapist a bum an asshole etc etc
And I notice it is very cliquey and very covertly and at times overtly anti male they don’t even mention black males
So all of this boogie man bs stuff is bullshit and is really everyone’s insecurities boiling because they’re forced into close quarters
It’s just a jungle out here and all of this overload of information has made us more tense and stressed around eachother
The problem is most of us don’t make it past middle management and even those who make it there and beyond don’t make grooming other young black professionals and hiring other black people to work under them.
I live in Texas where if one Mexican is running shit, you can guarantee they’re putting on other Mexicans as well.
My experience is older black professionals are so obsessed with ingratiating themselves to their white superiors and keeping their cushy jobs until retirement they’re not putting on anyone that can replace them.
Now I’ve received some helpful advice from black women, but sadly none of my references are black people🤷🏾♂️
^CO 👏🏽 SIGN 👏🏽
it’s sad that jealousy and envy is what stops most of us from progressing.
black vixens tend to be helpful if they are your colleagues,
while black males see you as competition.
i’ve noticed most latino males in supervisor positions can be cliquey with their own,
while latina bosses are a toss up if you’re a black male.
Nah these Latinos are going to hire each other before they hire blacks. Trust!
I keep telling people soon you’re not even going to be able to get a public service job in Texas because they have infiltrated every level and made positions bilingual, which will get other Latinos in regardless of experience.
The few of us that do make it to the top don’t want any other blacks on their level.
Black culture isn’t collectivist anymore. We pursue our own individual interests and that’s exactly why we get stuck in middle management, our schools underperform, and our neighborhoods are being gentrified across the country.
The only time we wanna “look out” is when a discount is involved.
So basically yeah we have to get a white co-sign because it trumps everything. White people have no problem co-signing because they know they’ll always be at the top of the totem pole.
^that last paragraph >>>>
i felt this.
too bad this is the state of our community at the moment.
will there ever be a change?
or are we doomed?
It’s sad because if we banded together with our education and experience we’d be able to put that income into building up our communities and institutions and our kids!
We too busy trying not to get fired and keep our retirement, but just know these white people will find a reason to fire your ass just to hire their son-in-law fresh out of college.
If I was an executive you can bet my assistant would be BLACK and I’d be recruiting BLACK people from
BLACK schools.
We talk a good game but I see so many black people between jobs having to take gigs for 30k and other blacks happy being the token black at their corporate job not passing any job openings to people they know are unemployed.
I’m not just talking professionals either. I mean black people in state jobs, trade professions, oil rigs, and plants.
I can go in on this all day long.
^ 🙋🏽♂️ had to take a job around 30k because i was in the trenches.
ended up budgeting and liking it,
but now the position sucks and i have to figure out my escape plan.
this is all while juggling my dreams.
there are blacks i know,
who smile in my face,
who know my story and will not help me.
i bet they will speak highly of someone else of another race tho.
it’s pathetic.
it’s usually black males.
most of the black vixens tend to sympathize because we relate on that same struggle,
although i know a ton of black vixens making way more money than black males,
myself included.
lowkey: when you look at all successful blacks,
most of their “come up” stories started by someone white.
am i wrong?
Nope, u’re right…Whitney…Mariah (wait…is she black? *shrugs*)
^black folks had to get co-signs from whites and then branch off to help other blacks.
if they weren’t greedy and had raccoon tendencies,
that is.
even oprah had to get co-signed by the whites before she could give back to us.
Mariah is black when it benefits her. She also plays the Spanish game when it benefits her as well.