Unveiling the Mask

Unveiling the mask is something more than taking the mask off to me. We as African Americans have been wearing a mask far before the pandemic. Masking our true self is apart of our everyday life. We train our children to how to act outside of the house. We have always been taught how to talk in certain places.

Growing up in Compton, CA and being educated I always get you don't sound like you are from Compton. This always bothered me because many amazing people come from my city. We have this label put on us based on where we grew up or where we came from. We have to teach our kids how to react even if pulled over by the police. People that are supposed to protect us. I'm not going to get into that because it's a whole other topic. You get my drift.

This is especially true in the workplace. I'm in school currently obtaining my PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and I'm working on my dissertation on inequality  towards women of color in the workplace. These inequalities are in different areas such as money, leadership, hair, etc. Studies show that African Americans are discriminated against for things as simple as their hair. A lot of organizations don't allow natural hair styles such as braids and dreads in the workplace so they put it in the dress code. It's deemed as unprofessional. We as women straighten our hair and wear makeup in corporate America because otherwise we wouldn't get the job. We show up in our representative. Black professionals have to spend so much money to look presentable according to the standards set by other cultures. Studies show that black professionals often face inequality in the workplace. We have to put on our call center voice and become a whole different person just to be excepted. Each day we have to show up as our representative just to be excepted and not make the next person uncomfortable. Most companies that I worked for in corporate America I was the only black girl or among a small group enough to know everyone name and count them. Often times when we are promoted to a leadership position we have so much pressure because we don't want to mess up the opportunity for the next person.

Recent studies have shown that African American women are the most educated in the U.S but the least paid. We are the fasted growing group of entrepreneurs. I feel this is because we are starting to value ourselves more and creating our own lane. We are tired of being people pleasers and want to embrace our truth and live in our truth. In the past few years this have been made more public around the Black girl magic and Black Lives Matter era. People of color are starting to become woke and speak up and speak out. Have you noticed even in this pandemic people of other races are starting to seek to understand more. They are beginning to see things with their own eyes.

The downside of not being able to live in your true self daily is causing burn out, stress, and it does something to your spirits. You develop the imposter syndrome. We are tired. Tired of fighting for our lives each day. This can lead to depression and with all the violence going on in the world it can cause PTSD.

The point of me speaking on this topic is to tell you to be comfortable in the skin that you are in. It's okay to not be okay. You don't need approval to speak or live in your truth. I didn't realize how important this was until I began writing my dissertation. It triggered me a few times. I also recently this month started a new position where this is the first time having a director that is female and African American. I was shocked and inspired at the same time. It changed something in me. I want to help change someone else's life.