Great article! I’ve been following this issue closely, because I’ve been a huge fan of Gabrielle Union, since Bring it On.

Companies and organizations cannot have discussions about diversity and inclusion, if they don’t create an “atmosphere” of diversity and inclusion, which makes it safe for diverse people to be in that environment. They can’t just drop a bunch of Black women (any women of color really), alone, into an environment that is, essentially, racially illiterate, and then not support them, when issues arise, or when these women establish, and enforce, boundaries and behavior around them. They have to listen to them, instead of falling back on lazy stereotypes like ,”She’s difficult.”, or “She’s angry.” I would not accept being in a professional environment where White people regularly call me by a different name than I asked, or paid an inordinate amount of attention to my hair.

Its wrong to invite “diverse” people into an environment that isn’t safe for them.

I’m a big advocate for providing mentors (of color) in such environments. Someone who has some amount of social clout, and has been in that environment for a while, and can show them the social ins and outs, that they can take their issues to, who will listen to them, and advocate on their behalf with supervisors and management. I benefited greatly from having that sort of arrangement with supervisors, and other employees, at my current job.