One of the girls who works for me happens to be black. I happen to be white. This is only relevant in context of this situation.
We have a great professional relationship and whilst we aren't friends outside work I know I have been a support to her with some personal things and with her professional development.
This morning I asked how her wkend was and she was very flat. I sensed something was wrong and asked her if she was alright, again she was flat and said she didn't really do anything. Her DH is a frontline worker and we have talked lots about her anxieties with this and how she finds it hard to relax so I thought "she clearly doesn't want to talk to me but is clearly not happy" so I said "well I hope you managed to get some down time to relax" to which she replied "well its hard to do that with everything that's been going on this weekend in the world".
I then twigged.
We had a very brief, awkward moment and then just talked about work. She didn't address it directly and neither did I.
At the end of the call I said "Look, I'm sorry if I was insensitive earlier". and she said "don't worry, everyone's the same".
I feel awful as I have obviously been outraged, saddened, angry about everything that's happened and have thought about it loads, what I can do, whether I'm raising my children in a way which fights injustice etc etc but I didn't think to mention it this morning. so is this white privilege? I feel awful.
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AIBU?
to feel bad about not acknowledging the George Floyd murder to my employee this morning?
154 replies
user47000000000 · 01/06/2020 11:22
OP posts:
Am I being unreasonable?
265 votes. Final results.
POLL
You are being unreasonable
35%
You are NOT being unreasonable
65%
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