39: My ignorance struck me for the first time

This story relates to the workplace. I used to work in an asset manager and had a couple of close and very dear (and very talented) black female collagues. Both of them had at times been messed about at work by other colleagues - undermining behaviour at work - and spoke to me about it. They both voiced fears about assertively complaining about the situation and being seen as 'angry black women'. With one of my colleague on one occasion she asked for help and we talked through the exact situation and ways to negotiate/deal with it. Our shared boss was not backing this colleague up in a 'turf war' where someone else (white) was wanting to take away part of her job(!) Our boss was a bit spineless and so didn't shut it down from the start. I remember helping my colleague with an email setting out her issues to our boss and also ' helping her to 'correct' some of her grammar. I felt passionate about need to get her case across but I suddenly realised I was at risk of taking away her voice and expecting her to do 'code switching' and then felt really sad - my ignorance struck me for the first time. I wanted my colleague to be able to set out her case clearly to our boss and felt she needed to write in the way he (and I if I am honest) expected. She sent the email - and he still didn't step in. The situation rumbled on for months, casuing much stress until it fizzled out. I felt so ashamed at my boss's behaviour and helpless that all I could listen to was the cr&p she was going through.