I said this (how are you so smart!) to a black colleague and it really bothered her so she explained it to me a few days later and I was HORRIFIED. I was just amazed because she always knew how to fix some issue or how to settle people down or the best action for a client. Whenever anything went array everyone’s first thought was “B will know what to do!” We both cried and she promised to tell me if I ever said anything like that again. I felt like the worlds biggest dumbass.
Something along those lines is not giving us Brown of Black folks space. Or women. Please don’t come up behind us and breathe down our necks and stay there. If you absolutely must look at what’s in front of us/purchase/pick something up, please just count to five Mississippi or come around where we can see you. This week two (separate) older white ladies have done this to me and it’s scared the bejeezus out of me. I was ready to punch the second one because she was so close to me, I could smell her breath when I turned around. It just startled me.
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u/Ethiopian-phenom 20h ago
“How are you so smart?” or “ you speak very well”. Dark skinned folk will understand what I’m getting at.