10 things to do to help Black youth thrive in the workplace... (a thread)

1. Hire black youth. Stop saying that that talent out there is scarce. It’s not. Young Black people are keen to learn and succeed. Also, they constitute 1/3 of SA population. Who do you think is best suited to talk to that audience? Don’t preserve the status quo. Hire Black youth

2. Give Black youth opportunities to shine. All the career-making opportunities are held back and given to “senior talent”. Give Black voices an opportunity to be heard. Give them a chance on the big briefs. Promote Black talent to senior positions and watch them fly.

3. Groom young black talent. This requires you to spend more time helping them succeed. This is your chance to share your knowledge, experience & skill, your chance to give back. Take of your personal time to build people up. And if they leave, so what!

4. Be more empathetic. Understand that Black youth don’t have some of the advantages we do. They don’t have their own cars to get to work, no access to tech & data and no exposure to experiences we had. Their context is different to yours. You cannot say, “When I was your age...”

5. Pay better. Black youth are building their own lives, from scratch. They don’t have a financial head-start nor the generational knowledge on money matters. They buy their own 1st car, have no money to buy lunch & have no money to spend on costumes for office themed-parties.

6. Let Black youth to be Black in the workplace. Encourage the youngsters to express themselves in their mother tongue, enjoy music and culture as they enjoy it, cater for food and events with consideration for African culture. Give them a true voice. Especially in the boardroom.

7. Expose Black youth to the world. Send young talent to award shows, international trips and events. Let them experience travel... the things you were lucky to have experienced in your youth. They have more catching up to do than anyone else.

8. Check your unconscious biases. Be careful about what you say and how you say it. Black youth don’t leave themselves at home b4 they come to work. Their experiences, their parents’ experiences and generations before them are embedded. They bring their histories with them.

9. Stop using Black faces. Don’t take Black youth into your boardrooms to win pitches, for PR photos ops and to pretend that you’re something you’re not. It’s very difficult for Black youth to speak up because it’s career-limiting to say “No”. Be authentically inclusive.

10. Stop saying these things; “You’re the best Black designer”, “Do you think Black people will get this?”, “This script needs some Black lingo”, “Will a Black director/photographer be able to do this?”, “We’d love to but we can’t compromise on the quality”. These are hurtful.

Things don’t change overnight but they do start immediately. Don’t just insist on change, start making it. We, Black Brown and White must all contribute to the improvement of Black lives by making #BlackCareersMatter because #BlackYouthMatters