She stared at me for a few seconds and remarked, “Oh. I didn’t see you. You blended in. You’re so black, you blend into the chair.” I didn’t believe what I was hearing and I didn’t know what to do. I looked at my arm, compared it to the chair in front of her.
“Nope, my arm is brown and the chair is black,” I quipped awkwardly.
She replied, “No. They’re the same color.”
The room was silent.
Yowzers. So is "Kelly" still working at Squarespace? I'm not sure I could take someone seriously as a co-worker - and certainly not as a manger - after saying something like that in a meeting.
Did you see the chair? Did you see the authors skin tone? Are you aware of the lighting in the room they were in? Perhaps Kelly was distracted because she thought she saw the author at the back of the room, or Kelly has poor colour perception.
Given how subjective and variable human sight is, its perfectly reasonable that Kelly may just not have seen her there.
That woman, wearing a blue shirt, isn't someone that I'd reasonably expect to blend into a black chair, even with a room darkened to make a projector more visible and a half-blind manager.
Keep in mind that the author had also spoken up earlier in the meeting, offering to take on another supervisor's project during his vacation.
To me, they key point is that "Kelly" did not apologize. If she had honestly failed to notice the author, she would have been mortified of the faux pas, and would have apologized during the meeting or in person soon afterwards. The lack of remorse, even during the later meeting with HR, makes a deliberate racist snub by far the more likely explanation.
That said, there are circumstances where a person with dark skin tone is hard to see. I once came very close to running over a pedestrian with dark pants, dark jacket, dark hat, and dark skin crossing a poorly-lit suburban street on a dark winter's evening; fortunately for both of us, the roadway was dry.
To me, they key point is that "Kelly" did not apologize.
I'll agree. Mistakes can be made in the moment, but they're worse if they aren't corrected after some reflection.
That said, there are circumstances where a person with dark skin tone is hard to see.
My wife is darker than the author seems to be, based on her photo. At night, if she's (my wife) wearing dark clothes and comes out of a dark room unexpectedly...well, we'll say that she has startled me a few times. Several circumstances have to come together at the same time for that to happen that I don't usually associate with sitting in a conference room for a meeting, though. So while the statement's true, it's hard to imagine a work situation that it'd apply to.
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She stared at me for a few seconds and remarked, “Oh. I didn’t see you. You blended in. You’re so black, you blend into the chair.” I didn’t believe what I was hearing and I didn’t know what to do. I looked at my arm, compared it to the chair in front of her.
“Nope, my arm is brown and the chair is black,” I quipped awkwardly.
She replied, “No. They’re the same color.”
The room was silent.
Yowzers. So is "Kelly" still working at Squarespace? I'm not sure I could take someone seriously as a co-worker - and certainly not as a manger - after saying something like that in a meeting.
That is such strange behavior my first instinct is to wonder if Kelly was having a brain health issue. Could she be having a stroke or a seizure?
It takes a while to consider what you're saying. But actually yes, that's a very distinct possibility.
Did you see the chair? Did you see the authors skin tone? Are you aware of the lighting in the room they were in? Perhaps Kelly was distracted because she thought she saw the author at the back of the room, or Kelly has poor colour perception.
Given how subjective and variable human sight is, its perfectly reasonable that Kelly may just not have seen her there.
- The chair was black. We know what various black chairs look like.
- The author's skin tone: http://amelielamont.com/about/
That woman, wearing a blue shirt, isn't someone that I'd reasonably expect to blend into a black chair, even with a room darkened to make a projector more visible and a half-blind manager.
Keep in mind that the author had also spoken up earlier in the meeting, offering to take on another supervisor's project during his vacation.
To me, they key point is that "Kelly" did not apologize. If she had honestly failed to notice the author, she would have been mortified of the faux pas, and would have apologized during the meeting or in person soon afterwards. The lack of remorse, even during the later meeting with HR, makes a deliberate racist snub by far the more likely explanation.
That said, there are circumstances where a person with dark skin tone is hard to see. I once came very close to running over a pedestrian with dark pants, dark jacket, dark hat, and dark skin crossing a poorly-lit suburban street on a dark winter's evening; fortunately for both of us, the roadway was dry.
I'll agree. Mistakes can be made in the moment, but they're worse if they aren't corrected after some reflection.
My wife is darker than the author seems to be, based on her photo. At night, if she's (my wife) wearing dark clothes and comes out of a dark room unexpectedly...well, we'll say that she has startled me a few times. Several circumstances have to come together at the same time for that to happen that I don't usually associate with sitting in a conference room for a meeting, though. So while the statement's true, it's hard to imagine a work situation that it'd apply to.
What's with the rush to justify this behaviour? Seriously?
Your comments are why working in tech is so hard for people. No matter what happens there's someone there to defend the status-quo.