While I cannot recall any overt barriers in the television industry due to my ethnicity, I feel I have experienced many covert barriers imposed by myself and those around me. Navigating through life as a minority and shouldering the way the world around you identifies people who look like you as being other, second best or there to be objectified and to service as entertainment; can be wearing. It can challenge your identity, weaken your confidence, and result in you building an armour around yourself or feeling you must conform and dilute your identity.
This armour that you build for protection can be a barrier to your progression. It can lead to a ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality that segregates you and can cause your perception of the outcome of interactions to be based on previous negative experiences. It prevents you from having the privilege to enter the workplace with the naivety that is required to flourish.
The other side to this is the feeling of the requirement to conform or to dilute your identity. It can often feel that a white person can be whoever they want to be and for that to be accepted and praised but for a Black person you must fulfil what white people what you to be for you to find progression. That can mean that you alter the way you style your hair, the clothes you wear, how you talk, what you choose to talk about etc. All these things hold back who you are, it’s a form of self-hate and can affect your confidence and/or mental health.
This puts a barrier to you progressing in your career at the same trajectory as your peers who do not face these challenges and those who are able to give you an opportunity are less likely to because they have no awareness of your challenges to understand the reason behind the character traits you display.
Many people recruit in their own image, and I am guilty of that myself. I am naturally drawn to candidates who I identify may have experienced similar challenges to myself and could benefit from being given an opportunity that they may not otherwise be fortunate to receive. However, when you are trying to build a career in a predominately white middle class industry, finding a way for someone to see you in their own image can be very difficult and means you don’t get past the interview or given a promotion.
When likeness is given more value over achievement, if there is no common ground then that achievement must be of a great value to override the lack of commonality. However, this level of achievements that is requited can sometimes be unstainable or unachievable and ultimately be a barrier to your progression.