—Barrington Williams, B1Daily

It’s time to call out the open secret: bilingual work requirements are a thinly veiled gatekeeping tactic that systematically excludes Black Americans from economic mobility. While corporate America pats itself on the back for “diversity,” these language mandates disproportionately favor immigrant labor, deliberately sidelining Black workers who’ve fought for generations to get a seat at the table.

Companies claim bilingualism is essential, yet how many customer service reps actually use Spanish daily? How many IT jobs truly require Mandarin beyond HR checkboxes? The answer? Few. This isn’t about operational need; it’s about cost-cutting. Employers would rather exploit immigrant labor (often underpaid under visa pressures) than invest in training Black workers already here.

From Jim Crow literacy tests to today’s “fluency preferred” job postings, the playbook hasn’t changed: erect arbitrary barriers to keep Black Americans out. Spanish-language dominance in service sectors, from healthcare to retail, has created a de facto color-coded job market. Meanwhile, Black unemployment remains double the national average. Coincidence? Hardly.

Corporations love boasting about DEI initiatives while quietly adding “Spanish proficiency required” to entry-level roles. Where’s the “inclusion” for Black monolingual Southerners? For Detroiters? For the descendants of enslaved people who built this economy without ever being compensated?

Enough with the linguistic gatekeeping. Economic justice can’t wait for another generation to learn someone else’s language while their own communities languish. The time to act is now.

—Barrington Williams, B1Daily