A white woman telling a black woman that she’s not likable because she’s smart is a prime example of coded language. In this instance, smart was code for “You’re showing off your intelligence in a way that I don’t believe a person of color should.” The thing is, I hadn’t been “showing off” my intelligence—my closing joke was about me coveting Jon Hamm’s ham, for Christ’s sakes. High concept, that ain’t. The problem was that to Female Judge, I didn’t sound like I majored in Grape Drank Economics with a minor in Magical Negro Linguistics, nor did I carry myself like I was lucky to have a seat at
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