Derailed

“It’s frustrating,” Maya said, pushing her fork around her plate. “I can spend half an hour laying out an idea, and no one really acknowledges it until a man repeats the same thing.

she sat at the long wooden table, surrounded by familiar faces. The ambiance tonight was warm, filled with the low hum of conversation and the clinking of silverware. This was a typical Friday dinner with colleagues, some more seasoned than others, where they would gather around plates of food and talk about their week, bouncing between casual jokes and deeper topics.

Maya, who had been in the company for a few years now, continues with her rant.

“So, I’m in our Tuesday strategy meeting,” she explains, her voice tight with irritation, “and I present my idea. It’s a good idea, right? But no one reacts. Then, Rick—the *genius*— cuts me off to say the same exact thing, and suddenly it’s groundbreaking! Like he just solved world hunger! I’m really tired of the sexism that goes on around here.”

Jamal, sat across from her, chewed thoughtfully on his food. He knew where this was going, and despite his best instincts, couldn’t resist. “Yeah, I get that. But, you know, it’s not just men doing that. I’ve had women cut me off too. It’s not always a gender thing, Maya. Everyone does it.”

Maya set her fork down, slowly. “What are you talking about?” her eyes narrowing like a lioness spotting her prey

 “ Look, I’m not trying to defend men or women here—I’m an advocate for everyone; I’m just saying we’re all victims of this kind of behavior, it’s just human nature.” Jamal said, feeling like he’d just delivered the line of the century.

Just as Maya was about to respond, Steve, a vice president, sat beside her jumps in, raising his beer like a battle flag.

“Yeah, and you know who *really* gets overlooked? White men!” Steve declares “All this talk about sexism and racism, but nobody wants to talk about how hard it is for us these days!”

Maya blinked. Jamal’s food froze halfway to his mouth.

“I mean, think about it!” Steve continues, encouraged by the awkward silence. “Everyone’s so worried about women and minorities, but white guys? We’re practically invisible now. Can’t say anything without someone calling you out for being ‘privileged’ or whatever.”

Jamal slowly swallows his food, wishing it would choke him a little. “Uh, Steve, I don’t think that’s what we were talking about”

“Oh, but it’s all connected!” Steve continues “Like, take those complaints about women not getting ahead. You hear that all the time, right? But what about the men? They get passed over too! Or minorities talk about being discriminated against—newsflash, discrimination can go both ways! But no one talks about *that*, do they?”

Maya, slowly turn her head towards him in disbelief. “Are you seriously telling me that we should be having a conversation about *white men* facing discrimination right now?”

Steve shrugged, unbothered. “I’m just saying, equality means equality for everyone, right? Black, white, male, female—we’re all suffering.”

Brian, another colleague, jumped in, nodding with the enthusiasm of a golden retriever. “Exactly, Steve! The other day my brother got passed over for a promotion and you know why? because they wanted a diversity hire instead. We all go through discrimination” He points his beer and nods at Jamal “we should be advocating for everyone not just one group of people.”

Steve and Brian look in each other’s eyes in admiration, clearly proud of their contribution to social justice.

“Right,” Maya said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Because a few white guys missing out on promotions is exactly the same as women and people of color facing systemic barriers for, oh, I don’t know, centuries?”

Jamal, feeling like he was sinking into the earth, tried to muster a defense. “Look, I think what they’re *trying* to say is -”

“I just think we need a meeting about this” Steve declared.

“yeah, yeah Brian replies egging him on

Maya shot Jamal a look that could melt steel as she muttered to him “Are you hearing this?!”

Jamal, who was now desperately trying to stay out of the line of fire, reached for a chip, the only safe thing at this table.

Brian leans in towards Steve with sudden enthusiasm. “A meeting about how people shouldn’t interrupt each other. I mean, fair’s fair, right?

Mya leans in as well, annoyed and concerned “We’re getting way off topic here, I was – ”

“We should definitely address discrimination! “ Steve interrupts whilst raising his hand to cover maya’s face almost as though he was swatting a mosquito “I think you should give the example about your brother for starters”

Steve and Brian continued bouncing ideas off of one another, just the two of them in their own little world

Maya didn’t even try to respond anymore and had now fully disengaged. She just picked at her food, the fight drained out of her.

Watching now in horror, Jamal’s chip dropped back onto his plate with a dull thud as the absurdity of the moment hit him like a slap. Here they were, in the middle of a conversation about the very real struggles Maya and other women faced at work, which somehow turned into discrimination against white men and how women should not interrupt men.

It was beginning to dawn on him that by constantly pointing out the rare instances where women, Black people, or other minorities could be at fault, Jamal had been dismissing the broader, systemic problems. He had been missing the point— the same way Steve and Brian had missed it today.

As the night wound down and people were getting ready to go home, Jamal caught with Maya       “ Hey, I just wanted to say I’m sorry,” he muttered. “For… all of that. I think I’m starting to see your point now”

Maya gave a faint smile, a little weary but understanding. “Its fine I guess, just… next time, Jamal, maybe don’t try to advocate for *everyone*. Sometimes, you just need to listen.”

Jamal nodded  “Lesson learned.”