#70 “He was disappointed that our company wasn't observing MLK Day….”
“I was about a year into my first job out of school. It was MLK Day, which at the time was not a paid holiday at my company. I was sitting in the lab next to one of my White male peers, when one of our Black male peers arrived for the day. We all said ‘hello,’ and he said something like: ‘I just want everyone to know that I'm here, but I'm protesting being here,’ which we took to mean that he was disappointed that our company wasn't observing MLK Day. The White guy sitting beside me replied something like: ‘That's okay, we can take you out to KFC for lunch!’ I was completely shocked. The Black engineer sort of laughed it off and was like, ‘come on, man...’ But I was horrified. I wish I had said something at the time.”