Culture 2 Omar Cook Culture 2 Omar Cook

Workplace Discrimination Based On Your Name: So-Called 'Hood' Names

Discrimination in the workplace should be a thing of the past and your name should not be an issue when applying to a new job! You shouldn’t have to change your name to get your foot in the door. We discuss it here!

 
Workplace Discrimination

By: Kwana Adams

Every time I think we black people are making progress as a unit, something always pops up to disappoint me. There’s always an argument or hot topic going through Black Twitter that just makes me screw my face up.  Usually, it’s harmless yet ridiculous things like, “who gets their plate first? The kids or the husband?” or “Should your man pay for your friend’s dinner?” Why are we even discussing this, and why can we never agree?

This time I’m referring to a Tik Tok I saw where a black woman in HR admitted that HR professionals, including herself, judge us based on our ‘hood’ sounding names, and some will even throw our applications out. Reading this as someone with a ‘hood’ name, I was disappointed and angry as hell.

The Tik Tok is captioned “tips from the HR department’ so I know her heart was in the right place but, no. Nope. No, thank you. Get this sh*t out of my face. Respectfully. This is not right. I’m not down with this, and imma tell you why. 

Before I rip this thinking to pieces, here is the tweet that features the Tik Tok in question for you to listen for yourself before you continue: 

There are a few things I found uncomfortable with this video. First of all, why are you judging us? Ain’t you black too? Shouldn’t you be holding the door open for us instead of holding us back? In the video, she goes on to say, “let your experience speak for you.” How, when our applications aren’t even being looked at sometimes? You saw that someone’s name was Shaniqua or Tyshaun, and you tossed their application aside based on some bias that tells you all you need to know about them, apparently.

We already face discrimination from white-owned companies based on our names. Why would you, as a black person, further pile onto that? You found yourself in a position to change this, but you made it worse, and on top of that, you’re offering us advice like this? We already have to work twice as hard. This is not what we need to be hearing and internalizing. You’re part of the problem, ma’am. You’re not remedying it like you think you are. 

The other thing that made me screw my face up was the comments under the tweet where black people are saying things like, “this is why black people can’t have shit” or “this is why black people can’t get ahead” in response to people (rightfully) calling out the BS in this video. No, that’s not why black people can’t have shit or can’t get ahead. The reason ‘black people can’t have shit’ is because instead of paving the way for more black people to follow in your footsteps, you’re making videos like this, making people feel ashamed and embarrassed of their names.

I’m not sure why anyone would think this was good advice, but they do, and that’s none of my business. However, it is my business when you’re trying to talk down on other black people because they disagree with something. Queen Latifah said U.N.I.T.Y, and we need to really listen and come together because it’s upsetting how we tear each other down.

Some of our names are cultural or derived from a cultural name, but you’re too busy judging them to figure out where they came from. I wish respectability politics would release its hold on the black community. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but we don’t need a seat at any table that we have to change ourselves for. 

At the end of the video, she advises us to use our initials or middle names on applications to get our foot in the door. Remember up above where I said her heart was in the right place? I know she thinks she’s giving us good advice, but I’m gonna have to pass on it. Stop telling us to change our names and tell us how to spruce up our resumes. Tell us how to ace an interview with flying colors.

We need discrimination in the workplace to be a thing of the past, and it starts with people like this woman who are already at the table. Instead of looking at our ‘hood’ names and judging us, how about looking at our experience and cover letter? We shouldn’t have to change our names to get our foot in the door. If that’s what it takes, then we don’t need to work there. My name is Kwana- Shikwana, to be exact. No, I’m not using my initials or my less ‘hood’ middle name. No, you can’t use any nicknames you made up to address me. Learn to pronounce my name, call me what I want to be called, or don’t address me at all. I’m not changing a damn thing about myself for you to accept me. Instead of wasting your energy encouraging us to change our names, channel that energy into calling out the people and the system that discriminates against us. Please. 

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Culture 1 Omar Cook Culture 1 Omar Cook

Is TikTok A Safe Place For Black Content Creators?

The rise of TikTok has seen Black content creators going uncredited for their work and a number of racist posts targeting minorities. Is TikTok a safe place for Black Content Creators? We discuss it here!

 
https://844burrows.com/
Black Content Creators

By: Emily-Ann

Here we go again, recently another social media platform has taken off with countless new accounts being made and a new means for people to come together and make content for our already oversaturated consumption. What’s one more social media account to add to your long list of profiles. Right?  

Don’t run up and sign for tiktok just yet. Tiktok was created by Zhang Yiming, a Beijing-based company founded in 2012, and launched it’s app for IOS and Android users in 2017.  The company is owned by ByteDance and worth $16.2 billion fortune and Zhang Yiming who is China’s 13th-wealthiest person. Reportedly making quite a bit of coins for himself and when I say coins, try thinking about 12 billion in 2018.

But who is regulating the tiktok app and why are there so many racist videos going around? This app is being downloaded by young impressionable people with billions of downloads by its users. It is becoming the new social media competitor. 

 
 

More and more I am starting to see many black creators either not getting the credit they deserve, or being insulted by other account holders, who of course are not black. I recently came across a Twitter post on my feed shared by a young lady, whose name I will omit from this article. The post caught my eye because of the nature of the post. The post was of a young teen named, Colby Howell, a senior in high school from Helena, MT. The post he uploaded was insulting and insensitive in nature. The video is as tasteless as his sense of style, and what he deems as a sense of humor. I wasn’t surprised at the ignorance displayed by this individual. Sadly, there are many people like him on social media and around the world.

 
 

The saying, “laugh now, cry later” comes to mind. Every time I see this type of content, I am constantly reminded that there are still people who think like this. Never mind the fact that countless people are dying right now, but yet he had time to put out such hateful and disrespectful content. I often wonder why tiktok is allowing such content to be displayed on their app. Aren’t they worried about the brand and stock decreasing in value? In my eyes the app has already decreased in value.

There have also been black creators getting fed up about not being credited for their work. The countless copy cats who get famous for their work. For example, creator of the Renegade dance, Jalaiah Harmon. Her copy cat took credit for the dance and thought that she could get away with it. Little did she know she would get called out on it. The story was everywhere on social media, and I caught wind of it when it hit twitter. Now you know black twitter will come for you, and it’s worse if you try to ignore or deny it. The lack of credit that black creators have to deal with. For example, Megan stallion challenge creator, Keara Wilson. Her story is just one of many in the bin of black creators. They do not get the credit they should have from the jump. Only after being called out did the copycat, Charli D'amelio admit what she did. 

After stealing black creators content or making racist videos, we get pathetic apologies of them begging people to stop treating them a certain way, and only because their chances at getting into college get shot do they seem remorseful. Key word here “seem”, since they get a little taste of their own medicine. A pinch of what the black community has to deal with on a daily basis. They're changing their accounts or taking down these disgusting videos only after they get caught. It should have never seen the light of day! Yet, they already recorded and uploaded it to their accounts for views. 

Future employers have already seen it. When will they learn that this type of behavior will no longer go unnoticed? Even when speaking about the African American community, they both refer to us as “Blacks/You blacks”. Wait, what? Everything that comes out their mouth, or what they type just sounds insensitive and not authentic. Just stop already, please you're making it worse! 

 
 

I think it’s time for us as creators and artists to find a safe place we’re we can create and display our talents and not be copied, mimicked, laughed, or impersonated or worse by a group of white people who’ve been taught this type of behavior.

Why do we continue to support these companies or platforms that do nothing to protect the rights of the creators who make them the most money? I myself do not intend on signing up for tiktok at all, because of the increasing amount of racist content coming out of the woodworks. One twitter follower commented on the Colby Howell video saying, “ tiktok take everything else down but leave this racist ass shit up”.

I did enjoy watching the videos that were often shared among the black creators on twitter and IG. Lately, with all the insensitive thoughtless comments and videos I am seeing on the tiktok app, I want no parts of it.

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