Leading While Black: Challenges of being an African American leader in a White organization

By Anthony Harris

This book is intended to highlight a phenomenon that occurs daily in the lives of Black leaders who serve in leadership positions in predominantly White organizations. Those individuals are evaluated and critiqued with the normal metrics of leadership, but they are also subjected to an additional set of expectations and challenges that do not apply to their White counterparts.
The challenges highlighted in this book – regardless of industry or whether in the public or private sector – are the result of systemic racism that commenced in 1619 and remains alive today. The historical and on-going dehumanization of Black people, and the public policies and laws that have sustained it, have been responsible for the creation and maintenance of contemporary racism and its many manifestations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
• Release date: Jul 7, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662913730

Book preview

Preface

This book is intended to highlight a phenomenon that occurs daily in the lives of Black leaders who serve in leadership positions in predominantly White organizations. I want to thank my friend and colleague, Dr. Harvey L White, for his valuable feedback. Those individuals are evaluated and critiqued with the normal metrics of leadership, but they are also subjected to an additional set of expectations and challenges that do not apply to their White counterparts.

The challenges highlighted in this book – regardless of industry or whether in the public or private sector – are the result of systemic racism that commenced in 1619 and remains alive today. The historical and on-going dehumanization of Black people, and the public policies and laws that have sustained it, have been responsible for the creation and maintenance of contemporary racism and its many manifestations.

One manifestation of contemporary racism is the long-standing tradition of treating Black leaders differently than White leaders. This book outlines a model that further helps Black and White leaders understand this insidious phenomenon through narratives, models, and examples. Although the focus is on Black leaders in White organizations, the issues presented here apply to all Black employees, regardless of position or title. While my attention to this phenomenon is presented within the context of the Black experience, members of other marginalized groups might see the applicability of these issues to their groups. I encourage and support those groups in their efforts to rid their organizations of systemic racism.

Some might conclude that my words are harsh, and that I over generalize. They might say that my mark and aim are too high for some readers. If that is one’s view, I urge them to recalibrate for themselves where they think they should be. For example, if I have reached a level 10 with my comments, and someone thinks that is too high, I urge them to determine for themselves the appropriate level for them. Then use that level as a starting point and not as an ending point to further understand the challenges that Black leaders face in White organizations.

This book is dedicated to past, current, and future Black leaders of White organizations.

Chapter 1

Challenges of being Black in America

Many African-American leaders working in predominantly White organizations face a unique set of challenges, most of which are directly linked to historical and contemporary institutionalized racism. Typically, those challenges are the direct result of the intentional imposition of burdens and challenges that do not exist for White leaders; and ultimately, those challenges and burdens can serve to mitigate the efforts and outcomes of African-American leaders in predominantly White organizations.

This phenomenon exists across all professions, at all levels, and in both the private and public sectors. Black scholars and writers have fashioned a phrase that succinctly describes this trend, referring to it as working while Black. This book adds the term, leading while Black, to the racial justice lexicon and expands the term, working while Black.

Already a part of that lexicon are the following phrases:

• driving while Black

• flying while Black

• walking while Black

• jogging while Black

• worshipping while Black

• eating Skittles while Black

• selling cigarettes while Black

• playing with a toy gun while Black

• running AWAY from the police while Black

• entering your own home while Black

• sitting in your own home while Black

• sitting in a common area in your dorm while Black

• sitting at Starbucks while Black

• swimming while Black

• selling bottled water while Black

• barbecuing while Black

• dying with a knee on your neck while Black

• dying for simply being Black.

No doubt there will be other examples of similar tragic incidents beyond the copyright date of this book. Each of those incidents (and many others, both reported and unreported) resulted in and from racial profiling, harassment, humiliation, trauma, incarceration, or death.

The list of names of unarmed Black men and women who have been killed, injured, or harassed grows daily. A Google search will reveal the numbers, causes, and disposition of cases involving racially motivated crimes that span decades.

An obvious common thread among all those phrases and the victims who inspired them is that they were all Black. In most of those cases, no charges were filed, or, if they were, they generally resulted in an acquittal. To worsen the pain for the families of the victims, authorities tend to blame police-related killings on the victim for the confrontation. He resisted arrest. He tried to assault the officer. The officer felt his life was in danger. She must have had a medical problem. Or, as the mayor of Petal, Mississippi, said about the death of George Floyd: "Why in the world would anyone choose to become a police officer in our society today. I didn’t see anything unreasonable. If you say you can’t breathe, you’re breathing. Most likely that man died of overdose or heart attack. Video doesn’t show his resistance that got him in that position. Police being crucified." Members of the public called on him to resign, as did the Petal Board of Alderman in a unanimous vote. As expected, he refused.

A veteran police officer, writing in the Washington Post in August 2014, defended police shootings with these words: Here is the bottom line: if you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you. In other words, refusing to obey an officer’s command, regardless of its legality or whether the officer’s life is in danger, can result in a death sentence. Such an attitude reflects the centuries-long systematic dehumanization of Black lives, which, when coupled with a badge and gun, will almost always have tragic results. To that officer, I say: Here is the bottom line. Police officers are not supposed to be judge, jury, and executioner. I should not have to lose my life because of your racist attitude. I should not have to lose my life simply because you tell me to do something, regardless of its legality or whether I am doing anything unlawful. From all indications, George Floyd obeyed the commands of the officer, which did not protect him from being the victim of a racist officer who chose to be judge, jury, and executioner.

A second common thread is that the actions taken against them were born of a deeply rooted belief in White supremacy, whose history has shown a linear progression from 1619 to the present time. To understand present-day White supremacy, one must understand its historical roots. Present day racism was not created in a vacuum. It was birthed by powerful people, who believed in the superiority of White people and the subjugation of Black people. They believed and promoted the notion only White people, by divine decree, were entitled to the blessings of life. Such thinking enabled them to claim land that was not theirs. To confiscate property that