slknight13 's review for:

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris

4.0

---

I wanted to love this book so much. The whole idea of a thriller around the idea of being the only black female at work...and then another black female starts working with you but strange things start happening cuts to the core of the existence of working in a predominately white space. The whole premise is intriguing. The idea that someone has your back when you are no longer the only minority at work is a very real phenomenon. As a white passing person of color (WPOC), I have not been subjected with too many microaggressions (although there was a colleague who asked whether my mother was "yellow"). However, I have had colleagues call other co-workers by my name instead of their name and one person of color state that they never felt as though they felt anyone had their back until we started working together. These are real experiences that people deal with on a regular basis. (The New York Times did a whole article about minorities being called the wrong name even though they are not even the same ethnicity. For example, one is black while the other is Indian. Or in my case, one of us is black while the other is Asian.) Back to the book: I understand the concept of code-switching and learning the rules of how to succeed in an environment where you are the "odd man" out. As I began to write this review, I decided to give it one more star because I realized the complexity of the writing for Harris to tackle such a difficult subject. The ending was fantastic, and she did a nice job of tying up the loose ends.