What were my options???
By Tashi
I am standing in front of a group of woman giving a presentation about my company. I am confident and excited. I run down all the wonderful benefits of my program and its importance in today's society. When I am finished with my presentation I walk around the room to mingle and answer questions. I am approached by a rather loud but jolly looking Italian woman. She asks me to run down again what it is exactly I do. I gladly give her a brief synopsis. She then lifts her head to the sky and says " Well there is a God"..........she looks back at be momentarily and then back up to the heavens, points and me and says "And this one's colored!" She must have read the look on my face because she followed up by squeezing my hand and saying "No offense"
I instantly felt myself get heated. I glanced around the room and saw that the only other black face in there was the one I brought with me. I could hear the woman talking but I was only half listening to her sideways compliments. Going on about who do I work for and how did I get involved. I obviously couldn't be the owner or have put the company together myself....... How should i have dealt with this situation? Am I overreacting by being so angry?
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1 comment:
Whoa!, I can only imagine what it must have felt like to be in that situation. Sometimes I think when people make statements like that so easily they are really speaking out of ignorance. This woman must've really thought she was giving you a compliment. No matter how far we've come as Black women there are still people in society that haven't quite caught up with the times.
I don't think you're wrong to be angry. I'm not sure how I would've handled this one...do you smile, walk away and mumble obsenities under your breath? Do you check her and go into "girlfriend" mode (she'd love that, lol)?
I say continue to be the dynamic business woman that you are and let your actions speak for themselves. Her ignorance is her problem.
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