Black Facebook Staff Describe Workplace Racism In Anonymous Letter
A group of Facebook workers say they are treated as if they ‘do not belong’ at the company.
One year after a former Facebook manager accused the company of having “a black people problem” – failing its black employees by allowing the proliferation of a hostile workplace culture — an anonymous group of tech workers at the social media giant have penned a letter in which they argue that the problem has only metastasized.
“Racism, discrimination, bias, and aggression do not come from the big moments,” they write. “It’s in the small actions that mount up over time and build into a culture where we are only meant to be seen as quotas, but never heard, never acknowledged, never recognized, and never accepted.”
The memo, published on Medium, includes descriptions of discrimination and hostility that 12 current and former employees of color, including black and Latinx workers, said they’ve experienced at the company. The writers say the alleged incidents all had witnesses and corroboration.
One Facebook program manager said they were told by two white employees to clean up after their breakfast mess and that when the employee raised the issue their supervisor only said the worker should “dress more professionally”. Other writers said supervisors and colleagues called them aggressive and arrogant for sharing opinions in ways similar to their white colleagues.
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