DiversityInc - Spring 2012

figure that has doubled since the subprime crisis, which was primarily caused by criminal predation by mortgage lenders, spurred by demand from Wall Street banks.

So, there is a vicious cycle for poor families, who are disproportionately Black and Latino: First we’ll keep you ignorant. Then we’ll deny you access to better yourself, and then we’ll punish and/or bamboozle you for being poor and ignorant. The pernicious nature of this cycle spills over to all members of a group when the stereotype is reinforced. Dr. Claude Steele describes this as stereotype threat (visit www.DiversityInc.com/steele to see him talking about this).

Different Perceptions

Now to answer your question. Before I became better informed, like most white people, I probably would have brushed off your assertion as being paranoid. But if you understand what’s going on (and I have a better grip on this now), the fact is that it’s not paranoia, it’s a real concern that arises from the knowledge that some groups in this country are persistently, perniciously and consistently discriminated against for reasons of race, gender, orientation, religion, age and disability. (There are other factors, but these are the major ones.)

Your situation is difficult; it is
almost impossible to discuss an
opinion on a subject where there
are two very different perceptions
of reality. What might be a topic of
normal conversation if we are all on
similar levels of perception (“Is that
color pale green or chartreuse?”)
becomes loaded with implica-
tions, implied wrongdoing, guilt
and emotion. I don’t assume your
management is racist (they may be,
but let’s assume they aren’t for the
sake of this point). Therefore, by
talking about what is plainly racial
bias to you and invisible to your
management, you are coming up
against their reality, which is based
on white privilege. Having grown
up never worrying about race,
white people have the privilege
of never thinking about it from a
personal perspective. We cannot
possibly truly understand what it
means to have to think about it all
the time. I have dedicated my life’s
work to understanding diversity,
but, in America, I cannot possibly
understand what it means to be
aware that every situation I’m in is
fraught with potential discrimina-
tion based on the color of my skin.

Are You a ‘Troublemaker’?

When you challenge or question decisions where race or privilege are factors, you are shaking the very foundations of what most white people believe to be true: that our country is a meritocracy, that we all compete equally and that the outcome is fair. But it’s not, and, although you wanted to discuss inequity in promotions, what you ended up doing was challenging the core of your leadership’s grounding in reality, which made you a “troublemaker” in their eyes. You wouldn’t be a “troublemaker” in an organization that is run to optimize performance because part of that optimization is diversity education, the tools to make opportunity equitably distributed (like employee-resource groups and mentoring)—and accountability for equitable talent management.

Frederick Douglass said, “No
man can put a chain about the
ankle of his fellow man without at
last finding the other end fastened
about his own neck.” However,
it is an ironic fact of life that the
oppressed must lead the oppres-
sor out of oppression. You would
think that feeling the chain around
our collective necks—the failure to
thrive of the very Black and Latino
youth that will soon be more than
half the children in our country—
would lead us to action, but it takes
a precipitating factor (for example,
photographs of Bloody Sunday to
move Lyndon Johnson to meet with
Dr. King to try and solve the prob-
lem of civil injustice).