THE ONLY BLACK GUY IN THE OFFICE
When Co-Workers of Color Cosplay as Allies
My company’s diversity committee is pushing forward to make positive change — but not without posers disturbing the process
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
Halloween is still more than a month away, and yet my co-workers are all dressed up in the most popular costume of the season: an ally! The get-up isn’t difficult to spot. It’s mostly displaying a fair-weather enthusiasm about the news cycle, along with performative activity on social media, with little real-life action to show for it. At this point, it’s to be expected. But as the new diversity committee at my job continues to push for positive change at the company, I’ve been surprised to encounter some wishy-washy peers of the same hue — pseudo-allies who look just like me. Am I wrong for wanting to turn these folks the hell away?
In the beginning, no one anticipated having to make restrictions to join the committee. The collective was created with the intention of moving Black and Brown employees’ concerns forward, so of course we welcome all people to support that mission. We’ll need all the help we can get. But what we don’t…
