A Black Woman Stole My Job

Understanding the collective benefit of diversity.

Jeffrey Kass
ZORA
Published in
4 min readMar 15, 2023

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Multi-racial business team working within an office with a sales graphs
Image: Shutterstock/Duard van der Westhuizen

At 7:00 every morning, I spend an hour writing in a coffee shop.

If I’m in my hometown Denver, I usually head to Aviano, where they sell the most delicious single-origin coffees and play good music. And where I can people-watch the hustle and bustle of the morning crowd.

If I’m out of town, I try to find a place that has amazing coffee and a similar writing atmosphere.

If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a certified coffee snob.

In those coffee shops, it’s not uncommon that observations of my fellow humans lead to a new writing idea.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Among the conversation noise coming at me from every direction, I overheard a man at the table next to me lament how a Black woman got promoted over him at work.

“She stole my job,” was how he phrased it.

I recognized this familiar phrase and sat with it.

It’s the response I’ve heard dozens of times over the years anytime a company tries to diversify their workforce and leadership ranks.

The “may the best man win” crowd was conveniently silent over the many years Black people and women of all colors…

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Jeffrey Kass
ZORA
Writer for

A Medium Top Writer on Racism, Diversity, Education, History and Parenting | Speaker | Award-Winning Author | Latest Book: Black Batwoman V. White Jesus | Dad