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You, however, leaving your desk and interrupting my work to try and start s-t makes me feel things."įor black women, the bias against natural hair results in higher levels of anxiety about their appearance. "She has a pretty big afro, and at least once a week someone asks me if I think her hair is unprofessional, if it violates the dress code, or if it distracts me. "My cubicle partner is black and has natural hair," an anonymous reader wrote to Buzzfeed. Receiving comments about one's natural hair is a frequent struggle for African-American women in particular. Black women's textured hair is often seen as "less professional" than smooth hair, according to the Perception Institute. If the person in question wants to discuss their identity, they can bring it up at their own discretion. "The wrong here is that the question presupposes that being a person of color is inconsistent with being American," Dr. Ashley Lauren Pennington told Business Insider. Receiving that question again and again can imply that a person isn't really American or doesn't truly belong in their country, just because of their appearance. "Or better yet, rather than asking anyone 'where are you really from?' try listening - or letting that person ask you a question - instead." "The next time you want to inquire about someone's race, ethnicity or national origin, ask yourself: Why do I want to know?" Vega wrote. Since microaggressions are so subtle, it's often hard to know if you're committing one or if you're on the receiving end.Īsking someone about their ethnic heritage appears to just be a way to get to know someone.īut for Latinos, Asians, and "people who fall in between the black-white racial binary in the United States," the question gets tiresome, wrote journalist Tanzina Vega in CNN. "Because microaggressions are often communicated through language, it is very important to pay attention to how we talk, especially in the workplace and other social institutions like classrooms, courtrooms, and so on," Christine Mallinson, professor of language, literacy, and culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, told Business Insider. A 2019 survey by Glassdoor of 1,100 US employees found that 61% of US employees had witnessed or experienced workplace discrimination based on age, race, gender, or LGBTQ identity. Prejudice, bias, and discrimination at work are a lot more common than many business leaders would like to admit. Salesforce is certainly not alone in having a problem with racism. From telling a new female worker that she "looks like a student" to asking a Black colleague about her natural hair, they can make a workplace feel uncomfortable, unsafe, and toxic.