Facebook still has a black people problem. And a problem with individual contributors who are not white.
This week, hundreds of African-American Facebook employees embarked to Menlo Park, California to be part of its annual Black@ event. This event was a global event, allowing us to hear directly from Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg about the importance of inclusion and empowerment, and meeting with colleagues who we may rarely see outside of the hectic day-to-day of the business. Many of us will then go to the AfroTech event in Oakland to share stories, network, and meet up with other engineers, designers, and leaders in the industry.
We may be smiling. We may post on Instagram with industry influencers and celebrities. We may use the IG “Share Black Stories” filter and be featured on marketing pieces. We may embrace each other and share how happy we are to have the opportunity to work with a company that impacts nearly three billion people.
On the inside, we are sad. Angry. Oppressed. Depressed. And treated every day through the micro and macro aggressions as if we do not belong here.
Since Mark Luckie’s brave post nearly one year to this day highlighting the patterns of aggression against black employees, not much has changed. There may be a few more posters on the wall. There may be an effort to recruit diverse talent. But not much has changed to ensure that people are recognized, empowered, and overall treated equitably by their managers and peers. In fact, things have gotten worse, as will be illustrated here through the below incidents that have occurred over the past six months.
The problem is not just with black employees of different genders. The below incidents are also reflective of behaviors against Latinx and female Asian employees.
The experiences highlighted here invoke how we, the twelve Facebook employees present and past who are sharing our stories here anonymously, have been made to feel as employees by Facebook managers, HR business partners, and their immediate white colleagues. To avoid positively identifying the individuals involved, we will not name the people or business units involved. However, all of the below incidents are factual, with witnesses corroborating the…
