It felt like leadershipвЂ™s responsibility to set the tone around this issue and deliver a message of support for their Black employees. Compelled to do something, I wrote an article highlighting the work of an organization promoting Black Lives Matter, but I refused to take on the emotional labor of facilitating any forums or discussions within my office. Meanwhile, white colleagues continued to buzz around the office, going about business as usual. In 2016, the day after Philando Castile was fatally shot by a police officer during a routine traffic stop in front of his girlfriend and small child, I struggled to focus at work. But despite my armor, the emotional burden of being one of few Black women was often too much. In the workplace, though I have always pushed for greater diversity both in the office and in our content, I made sure to tread lightly when discussing race relations, hoping that вЂњplaying the gameвЂќ would eventually place me in a position to create opportunities for other Black women where weвЂ™ve historically been excluded. ItвЂ™s the message weвЂ™ve been trying to convey. I hope every white person knows that whatever injustice or fear they might feel is only a shadow of what Black people have carried with them their entire lives. I donвЂ™t condone the looting and violence thatвЂ™s happening, but it seems to have gotten white peopleвЂ™s attention as the uprisings reach their neighborhoods. But now that many are openly protesting, there are signs that we may finally be heard. This is the power and ruin of white supremacy. ItвЂ™s understood that we should merely feel lucky to have our jobs at all. More often than not, Black women are given entry into white spaces but not allowed to spread their wings or display their most authentic selves. Recent stories by former employees of companies like Refinery29, Reformation, and CondГ© NastвЂ™s Bon AppГ©tit highlight the extent to which Black women feel silenced in majority-white workplaces, all too aware of the precariousness of their positions if they were to be labeled difficult. WhatвЂ™s become clear is that racial progress and white comfort cannot exist in tandem.

The young veins take a vacation zip