As a man of color, I’ve decided to leave nothing to decode. Anything someone white or otherwise different than me says to me, as in asking if I’m an electrician instead of a writer, I take at face value. I’m too busy forging ahead. I’ll celebrate the day you can turn to a colleague sulking in a car seat that way and not hold back. Your feelings are valid and worthy and that goes without saying. Upwardly mobile or just making it, they’re totally valid. I would appreciate you as a hard-working colleague who just won a victory, plain and simple. When we can all see it this way … God, that’s going to be a beautiful day.