An open letter to white folks headed to the office, particularly a majority-white office, poised to ask, as is customary on a Monday, “How was your weekend?” (A thread)

Please be especially patient and tender with your black colleagues today. We are dealing with a lot.

How was our weekend? Our weekend was full of anguish.

Many of us are not fine, but we have deadlines. We have bills to pay.

Many of us are processing, and also have to be “professional.” For many of us, this is hard.

Since black people are not a monolith, how we are doing will look different for each person.

It won’t be helpful to act on assumptions about how we feel.

Your concern is genuine, heart-warming and appreciated. Thank you for caring about us.

It’s understandable that we may not want to bare our souls at the water cooler, over Zoom, or on a conference call.

Instead, what many black folks in the workspace might find helpful is grace in our workflow.

Please help us feel safe in asking for the leeway we need.

Many of us feel pressured to seem okay and to perform per usual. This is really hard.

For example, is it okay to request a deadline extension?

Is it okay if we sit out a meeting that could have been an email - and get the notes later?

Is it okay if we ask for help from other team members with our projects, without it being tagged as a failure to perform?

Thank you for your efforts to be an anti-racism ally in the workplace. We need your support and in the right ways.

Here is a resource bank with great information on white allyship. https://www.powershift.org/resources/opportunities-white-people-fight-racial-justice

#BlackLivesMatter

(End thread)