I never knew the cost of being Black in corporate America. The price I would pay with my dignity and fundamental rights as a human being just to have a job that wasn’t in a low-income sector. A job that had a satisfying career path and gave me and my family a chance to live the American Dream.

But if I knew then what I know now, maybe I would’ve done things differently before taking the job that traumatized and nearly destroyed me. Maybe I would’ve bleached my dark skin to make it lighter or removed my long, Dookie braids to straighten my hair. Maybe I would’ve bought blue contacts to hide my brown eyes and got a nose job with a butt reduction, too—you know, do all the things I should’ve, would’ve, could’ve done to look less like me and more like the racists who tormented me, just to fit into a mold I had no part in creating.

And as I stood on the edge of the ocean staring at the angry waves, it may surprise you to know that in my darkest hour, I had hope because hope springs eternal. Hope that God would notice me. Hope that God would hear my broken heart calling on His name. Hope that God would make a way for me to not just survive, but also to thrive.

And He did.

Minutes before I planned to plunge into the raging sea, God intervened and showed me there was power in my pain. Power that could change the lives of thousands of people who were suffering just like me.

I did not commit suicide that day. And now I’m the Christian author of an international best-selling & award-winning book that stops racists in their tracks called HUSH MONEY: HOW ONE WOMAN PROVED SYSTEMIC RACISM IN HER WORKPLACE & KEPT HER JOB.

Hush Money is:

• An international best-selling & award-winning book featured in Forbes
• #1 Best Seller on Amazon
• #1 in Best Eye-Opening African American Women’s Fiction on Goodreads Listopia
• #1 in Books to Improve Social Justice Awareness on Racism on Goodreads Listopia
• Recipient of the Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal for Social Issues Novels
• #3 in Top African American Christian Fiction on findthisbest

Hush Money isn’t just another book about systemic racism. For EMPLOYEES, it’s a roadmap for fighting back against racism in the workplace and not walking away empty handed. For EMPLOYERS, it’s a compass for identifying covert racism because you can’t fight what you can’t see.

Even in my darkest hour, I had hope because hope springs eternal.

By Jaquie Abram