Expressions of “gratitude” are unconsciously connected to the relationship between the Master & Servant.

BIPOC need to unlearn the narrative of “being grateful”. For years our ancestors have been told to be “grateful” for crumbs. To be “grateful” for just being invited in. “Grateful” for the job. How many of you have been told to “wait” & that a better opportunity would come along?

Let’s just be honest, BIPOC have been deemed the “hard worker” oftentimes because we are willing (more like pressured) to take on more than our white counterparts. We’ve been conditioned to be thankful for just the bare minimum, to go with the flow and not to complain.

All of these are existing forms of racism that still take place in the workplace but also speak to our own internalized oppression and sense of inferiority caused directly by the effects of whiteness and all its toxicity and corruption over our lives.

BIPOC must unlearn these ingrained notions of “thankfulness” and “gratitude” that frankly date back to colonization and ideals of servitude where the indentured servant or enslaved person made to serve their colonial master.

These are power dynamics that we must learn to recognize and call out: BIPOC when you are being a subject to this oppression and Whyte folks when you are still behaving as the oppressor and colonizer. We must release ourselves and each other from this grip.

When we obey and overwork ourselves attempting to be the “good worker” and living up to that narrative we often enable the forces of Whyte supremacy to rule over our bodies. Many of us do this unconsciously. So how can we examine this in our everyday lives and ensure that as BIPOC we are not serving as prey to a corrupt system.

How can Whyte folks challenge these systems from within and truly use your whiteness to deconstruct them?

Are you speaking up for your BIPOC colleagues at work?

Are you interrogating your own privilege and whether you are even deserving of certain roles you are being given/put in?

Are you just taking from BIPOC mindlessly? Are you doing your work to look at all of this? If not ask yourself why.