On Tuesday's Fox & Friends, news personality Bill O'Reilly claimed he couldn't hear Congresswoman Maxine Waters' comments on the absence of Trump supporters' patriotism because "I was looking at her James Brown wig."
This attack on Congresswoman Maxine Waters from Bill O'Reilly is openly racist (via @mmfa)
A lot of people perceived the comment as racist and took to Twitter to express their feelings. Activist and writer Brittany Packnett was one of them.
She tweeted how these instances of racism against black women in the workplace were all too common, and urged black women to share their "Maxine and April" stories using the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork.
Black Twitter joined Packnett and recalled their own experiences of what it's like to be a working black woman.
Like how black women are overworked and then dismissed when it's time for a promotion in title and pay.
And how when they do finally advance, they are still somehow expected to take on responsibilities below their pay grade.
Quite a few black women remembered times in which people automatically assumed that they couldn't be doctors...
Law firm founders...
...or university faculty.
One retail manager was even referred to as "the help."
There was also a lot of discussion around the contradicting expectations of professional black women.
Like how speaking up and advocating for yourself can often backfire.
And how black women are told to nicely package their critiques when such politeness is not required of other employees.
#BlackWomenAtWork I corrected a white female coworker, she cried, we ended up in a meeting with management. Mgr sa… https://t.co/OE2lerIpH8
Hollywood actress Jurnee Smollett shared how she's been told that certain roles weren't for "ethnic" people.
And this Hollwood movie director and writer opened up about how she was mistaken as a custodian.
There were of course lots of stories about black women's image, too.
Like this woman who was reprimanded by a judge for maintaining and styling her hair.
In the end, #BlackWomenAtWork highlights just how valuable black career women are.
And it called out employers who don't acknowledge that value black women bring to the workplace every day.
CORRECTION
We were so worked up over these tweets that we mistakenly attributed the quote in the dek to Beyoncé instead of Rihanna.