The Wretched of the Work: Anger, Fear, and Hopelessness as Impacts of Experiencing Workplace Racism in British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

Drawing inspiration from Frantz Fanon’s work on the colonization of racialized subjects, this article illuminates how racial discrimination impacted the wretched of the work, in reference to a group of racialized civil servants, in primarily White institutions of public service in British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, using data from twenty-five in-depth qualitative interviews, the article presents findings on the affective impacts of workplace racism on this group of participants. In this regard, anger is discussed as internalized, nonviolent and pent-up frustration over oppressive everyday microprocesses that presented significant workplace barriers to racialized workers. Subsequently, fear is outlined as shaped by the lingering concerns on the part of racialized subjects over the very real prospects that their employers could retaliate against participants using any pretext and at any given time. Lastly, hopelessness is explicated as the feeling of disempowerment driven by the belief that workplace inequities would persist irrespective of what participants did to seek equal and respectful treatment at work. Ultimately, through outlining findings as anger, fear, and hopelessness, this article adds to the existing body of scholarship on how workplace racism not only leaves an indelible mark on racialized targets but also why it wreaks havoc in employment relations, further reinforcing existing empirical literature on the debilitating impacts of workplace racism. Lastly, in view of the fact that racialized public servants have received scant research attention, the findings underscore the need for publicly-funded employers to address White supremacy and institutional domination in their midst on a priority basis.