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AjeeRobinsonFirstEssay 2 - 24 Feb 2024 - Main.AjeeRobinson
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted. | |
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> | My Success Has Never Been My Own | | | -- By AjeeRobinson - 23 Feb 2024 | |
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> | During my senior year of undergrad, the Sociology department hosted a farewell celebration for graduating seniors. While at the reception, one of my former professors, a white woman, congratulated me on an award I received and asked about my summer plans before starting law school that Fall. I excitedly shared with her that I was accepted into the SEO Law Fellowship Program, and as a fellow, I would spend my summer at a Big Law firm in D.C. Suddenly, her smile positioned downward, and a look of sheer disappointment covered her face. “Oh no—you didn’t want to do something else?” Without realizing I had started speaking, I nervously began explaining myself as if I were on trial, detailing how I had devoted all of my involvements to public interest work up until that point, including spending the majority of my time during undergrad working on a case that resulted in the subsequent exoneration of a wrongfully convicted woman in Philadelphia. I went on to awkwardly explaining my financial situation and how the money I would earn that summer would help me move to one of the most expensive cities in the U.S.—a significant help for my family, which consists solely of me and my single mom. Finally, in a final failed attempt to earn her approval, I downplayed my excitement for the opportunity. She responded with, “Well, I guess that’s okay. Just make sure you don’t stick to that.” A few days later, I told a trusted professor, a white man, about the encounter. Without hesitation, he looked at me with a sure expression as he stated with conviction, “Ajée, you are allowed to make money.” When I returned to my dorm room, I called my mom and completely broke down, pretending that I didn’t know why I was so profoundly affected by my professor’s affirmation—truthfully, I knew why. | | | | |
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> | My success has never been my own. | | | | |
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> | I’ve never had the right, privilege, or freedom to own my own success, define it as I see fit, or ask myself what I want to do or how I want to show up professionally—or not. Whether public interest, private sector, or any professional endeavor, white people have always enforced problematic and frankly stereotypical notions of what’s “acceptable” for my professional life, my hopes, my dreams, and my aspirations as a Black woman and other Black women alike. | | | | |
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> | I quickly realized that I was so emotional from my professor’s reassurance that I was allowed to make money without misplaced guilt because up until that moment, I had never had a white person, much less a white man, allow me, as a Black woman, the possibility or even the dream of a life absolved of struggle. My white male professor correctly recognized the hypocrisy in a white woman (who also conveniently happened to be a tenured professor at a prestigious private university) telling me (a Black woman who grew up struggling in Baltimore working harder than everyone else in the room to get a fraction of the benefits because of my Black womanhood) that my efforts to equal the financial and generational playing field for my family to align with that of her white family was somehow not good enough or a waste of my potential. This moment spoke to a larger issue that irrespective of what career path a Black woman pursues, there continues to be this overwhelming need for white people to “humble” her, “encourage” her to focus her priorities on what they consider “good work,” or force her to hold herself to standards and expectations that they have the privilege of disregarding and disobeying. Meanwhile, those very white people continue to be overwhelmingly represented and hold insurmountable power and authority in the very positions and roles that they conveniently tell Black women not to pursue. | | | | |
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> | However, unlike most white people who think they mean well or that they are simply giving voice to those in society with the most significant legal need, they almost always fail to realize that, irrespective of career path, Black women continue to professionally operate as a cog in a seemingly unfixable machine, regardless of who the machine benefits. In short, to be a Black woman in a professional space is to be in a constant state of oppression and violence, whether that looks like closing a billion-dollar deal or advocating for the exoneration of someone wrongfully convicted. This notion that Black women’s talents are best served solely in a career of empowering the powerless when they remain among the powerless themselves is inherently racist and sexist. To insinuate that Black women will somehow find their life’s purpose by devoting their professional lives to giving back within the very environments where they are the primary targets of racialized and gendered abuse erases the continued lived experiences of Black women in these environments, who face the same violence as they would in any professional role. | | | | |
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> | So, this begs the question: what is the pathway forward for Black professional women, and where do we go from here? First, one concept must be recognized for professional progress—expecting an oppressed people to be at the forefront of the fight to end their own oppression is nonsensical. Expecting Black women, the group who experiences the most violence from the criminal legal system, arguably falling second to that of Black men, to be the leaders in fundamentally changing said system is rooted in white supremacy and racism. Furthermore, to do so while ignoring the fact that the business of Big Law continues to be predominantly white and male and operates for the sole benefit of those within these demographics furthers the issue. As such, rather than attempt to push people to commit to a particular legal/professional pathway, the question should explore why certain groups choose to go into a specific legal profession compared to others. If Black women are going to face racialized and gendered obstacles in the workplace, and these issues continue to go unconfronted by those who can be significant catalysts for change, that is, white people, then why should Black women be dissuaded from making money while also building generational wealth and financial security for their oppressed people while simultaneously facing these obstacles? Next, there needs to be more intentionality and accountability to encourage white people, especially white men, to devote their careers to doing work on behalf of those most oppressed within our legal system. Truthfully, marginalized communities have always been at the forefront of legal activism, which still holds true today. Therefore, the issue is not that there are not enough people devoted to fundamentally changing our legal system; instead, there are not enough people who hold privilege doing this work. Finally, white people must recognize the inherent protest within Black existence. The simple act of taking up space in any predominantly white professional space is resistance in itself, irrespective of the work or service being carried out in that space. Therefore, Black people, especially Black women, having a seat at the table deserves recognition because this seemingly simple endeavor takes a lot more strength and courage than white people could ever imagine. | | | | |
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> | My success has never been my own—now I choose to reclaim it for myself. | | |
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AjeeRobinsonFirstEssay 1 - 23 Feb 2024 - Main.AjeeRobinson
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| META TOPICPARENT | name="FirstEssay" |
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It is strongly recommended that you include your outline in the body of your essay by using the outline as section titles. The headings below are there to remind you how section and subsection titles are formatted.
Paper Title
-- By AjeeRobinson - 23 Feb 2024
Section I
Subsection A
Subsub 1
Subsection B
Subsub 1
Subsub 2
Section II
Subsection A
Subsection B
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