"Man I Understand!" - Am I a Bad Employee!?

 

January 8, 2023

Peace Friends,

    Allow me to play judge, jury, lawyer, and client as I put myself on trial. I turned 42 earlier this week and as each year passes, I become more contemplative, circumspect, and uncomfortably honest with myself. This year, I was confronted with a searing question about my professional journey that I'd like to answer, out loud, in front of all of you. By the way, I was the one who confronted myself, decided to try myself, to judge myself, exonerate myself, and present the trial to you - you'll turn 42 one day(fun times). 

Presentation of the Charges: Not Being a Good Employee

1. Doesn't work well with others.

2. Doesn't follow the rules as written.

3. Doesn't respond positively to not having his ideas considered.

4. Impatient with process-oriented work.

5. Unrelenting when he feels he's right.

Preliminary Verdict: Guilty on all charges.

While I am certain that there's a longer list available if you survey all of my previous places of employment, there are some objective truths that I can maturely cop to. I am also certain that there are a LOT of Black men who've been described the exact same way, which led me to contemplating my cultural inheritance, the men in my family who've come before me, and the systematic "fencing in" of Black men by capitalist, American society. If all we (Black men) can be are brutish and uncooperative beasts, then, of all things, I fear for the future of our societal necessity. 

So here's where I serve as my own lawyer to offer the jury(me, but also you) the opportunity to consider the context in which I was born, in which I work, and the possibility of both my professional environment and I to evolve. 

Cultural Considerations:

Lawrence Q. Alexander II was born in Jersey City, NJ to parents Lawrence and Deloise. Alexander II's mother worked as a nurse and his father as a letter carrier for the United States postal service, both for more than 40 years. Alexander II's parents mortgaged their future so that he and his sister could achieve university degrees and pursue an American Dream greater than they had...but what if the dream had already been achieved a generation prior? What if the "recipe for success" - hard work and a college education, was a recipe for employment, but never ownership or liberation?

Jury - I'd like to present Richard Alexander and Nathaniel Phillips - Alexander II's paternal and maternal grandfathers.

Richard Alexander was born on June 10, 2029 in El Dorado, GA. He was an only child. With no formal education, Alexander learned the trades and became a proficient auto mechanic and went on to own his own garage where he repaired cars and tractors. Alexander would move to Jersey City, NJ in the 1950's where he would be one of the first Black auto mechanics to own his own business. His motivation was growing up in a deeply racist and segregated state, leaving his employment options limited and his ownership options non-existent.

Nathaniel Phillips was born on December 20, 1938. He was the only surviving child of nine, and grew up in very poor health. His early years were spent between Ohio and Georgia, but the majority of his life was spent in Georgia. Phillips didn't complete high school but vividly recalls the day he made this life-changing decision. He was sitting on his front porch and saw his mother, a domestic, walking home from work and looking extremely tired. He resolved that his mother wouldn't work for white people anymore, nor would they struggle the way they'd been struggling anymore. Phillips took his first job digging ditches for white construction supervisors. He recalls several instances of white men standing over the ditch while he worked, talking to one another about him. One man would remark, "Man, your n----r sure does work hard, can I have him?" The other would respond, "You can't have him, but you can borrow him." With children to feed, Phillips had no other options at that time but to endure the treatment, but resolved within himself that he'd never work for white men again and that he'd own his own land, car, and determine his own future. Nathaniel would often be quoted as saying, "A man ain't nuthin' if he don't own somethin'." Phillips would go on to be a superintendent and construction supervisor on highway crews that have been responsible for developing and paving much of what we know today as highway 85 that runs through the state of  North Carolina, where Phillips died back in 2021. As a superintendent and supervisor of mostly white work crews, Phillips saw himself "rise above the ditch" and stand over the men who once stood over him.

Question for the Jury - Can a Black employee be appropriately evaluated without evaluating the environments in which they work? How have the American societal, social, and occupational conditions for Black men evolved over the last century? Can we have a complete assessment of the worker without assessing the workplace?

Dear colleagues in the jury, if you lack the facts to conduct a fair and full assessment, then I ask you to declare this proceeding a mistrial on the basis of a lack of evidence. 

Reflection: I come from a line of men who, despite having no formal education, pursued entrepreneurship, ownership, and self-determination. I now sit as a first-generation college graduate with a master's degree, wondering why the occupational shoe hasn't fit. I also sit as the father of a daughter who will graduate from Wake Forest University next year, where the four-year cost of attendance is roughly $309,000. Her first job may yield $50,000 if she's lucky. I can't help but feel like I've been missing something. I can't help but feel that my ancestors did more with less and wanted more while we(their grandchildren) settle for less.

 Do I make a bad employee? Probably...IF...

1. You want me to ignore my cultural inheritance of self-determination and indominable will.

2. You want me to ignore the systemic and economic inequities between the American higher education and workforce communities(the indentured state of college investment vs. employment income).

3. You do not see the value of entrepreneurial thinking in your Black employees.

4. You have not examined your own cultural inheritance and path to your seat of power.

Disclaimer/Call to Action:

NO, I am not trying to talk myself out of a job(I'm open for hire, so holla!), but I AM trying to talk the next generation of CEO's, Chief Diversity Officers, HR leaders, and supervisors IN to a conversation about the cultural cost you implicitly and explicitly ask Black people to pay as employees in your organizations. Simply put, we're only bad employees if you're a bad place of employment. 

We can ALL do better, so let's.

If you're a Black man and you've ever felt like you were digging someone else's ditch, trust me - I UNDERSTAND. 

Presently Yours, 

L.A.