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When Corporations Fail Us
As new DEI roles abound, don’t forget that the system is broken, but it’s not on Black hires to fix it
Corporate hiring systems have been failing Black people for far too long. Recent calls for diversity and inclusion highlight the problems that arise when companies wake up and realize they are lacking in that area — one problem is the rush (though necessary) to make a change and the effect it can have on Black hires. There’s the tokenism, the otherness, being a “first” when hired into a leadership role, and the “burden of being a single person meant to shift equity and inclusion within an organization.”
“Remember that you were never the impostor. The true impostor was the corporate hiring system that told you that you just needed to get an education and work hard, and that would be enough,” Bianca Reed writes. “Turns out, they just realized their system was broken, and the odds were never in our favor.”