"Why Don't You Want to Work for a Black Publication?"

Hello friends,

It's funny how time gives you perspective. For example, in a podcast interview earlier this year, I talked about a job I held as an editor for a national organisation in the UK. In the main, I've always thought of it as a pretty positive experience, but even then I realised there were days when I experienced microaggressions and racism, so was it really that positive?

Perhaps I should have known when a member of the interview panel for that job asked me the question in the title. Here's the backstory…

I'd been living in London, and had decided that if I were ever to afford a house I needed to move. Since I had close friends in the Midlands, and didn't intend to spend my whole life as a hermit, I started looking in that area. As luck would have it, an opportunity came up to work for a national organisation focused on education, and the CEO did a first interview with me when I was in London. That went swimmingly and I was invited for a second and final interview with the board.

Double Takes and Odd Questions

As boards do, the board consisted of several men and two women. And the board chair had an attitude from the time I entered the room. I presume that the CEO had told him I was a Black woman but he still seemed surprised when I turned up. There was a definite double-take.