Your title is no exception: the racial constraints of African-American Chief Diversity Officers

The Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) position has a unique responsibility to drive diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts across college campuses, however, it does not award individuals serving in these roles an exemption from racial ostracism. In this study, the author investigates how anti-blackness prevents African-American CDOs from fulfilling the most crucial function of the position - coalition building - which is the principal driver of social movement and change in higher education. Findings revealed anti-blackness to produce racial constraints that force African-American CDOs to deprioritize strategic imperatives and instead redistribute time, effort, and focus toward addressing the racialization of their identities. Racial constraints were found to be race-based limitations that inhibit effectiveness of the CDO role and situate African-American CDOs to suffer through the exact same experiences they are hired to fix.