Chronicles of a Black Man in IT (Clarification)

By

Robert A. Jackson, Jr.

Let me start this post by clarifying things. Everything that I addressed in the first post were things that I personally experienced while being at work. 

The events that I used were time stamps for the reader to have a timeline of real-time events I experienced when I clocked in. Because I was the only black person in the department, I had to figure out how to make my workday as smooth as possible without getting into a political debate about how I voted. Some of the conversations of some of my coworkers were heavily influenced by the decisions made from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

My goal is to show the reader that I’ve worked in an environment that has been controlled by political ideology not by simply seeing the humanity in others. This has been my struggle because it is antithetical to who I am. I actually despise conversations that favor the American Political Process over the Politics of Jesus. This is what made the atmosphere undesirable at times.

This job was the first time where I was immersed into a situation to where I really had to learn the culture of my Caucasian brothers and sisters. The way that I grew up, the focus was on treating people with respect and seeing their humanity. 

The religious group that I grew up in did not get too involved in the political process. So, God was teaching me a lesson in the process of seeking to learn this environment. It seemed that almost everything that was related to some of my co-workers sociological, philosophical, psychological, and anthropological perspectives were completely possessed by their American political ideology. 

This thought process is important to understand as I continue to write because this was teaching me a dynamic that I did not fully understand about the White Church in America. 

Sometimes it was difficult to have intellectual conversations outside of the realm of IT because the end result would be an argument. I often wondered what my purpose was because what interested me didn’t interest many. Once again, this is why my circle was small. We did not see eye to eye, but I could at least express a part of who I am around them. 

The tension of hearing conversations about what the Oval Office did for society for 12yrs, combined with the stress of the job, plus working for people who did not understand Unbuntu was a recipe for disaster. There were many days that I absolutely despised going to work. 

But through all of this frustration, I had a intelligent beautiful spirit filled wife at the house who encouraged me to fight through all of the mess to further my career. 

In the next post, I will talk more about my how I made it to IT and the obstacles I had to overcome in the midst of this new environment. I apologize if it seems like I’m rambling. But I’m building the story of how God has been working. More positivity is coming. Stay Tuned!