I worked for a small nonprofit (20 employees) in California that made grants to community organizations. I really liked most of my colleagues and felt that we all got along well. In 2019 we had a diversity training led by two local women who wrote a book about racial reconciliation. The thing that sticks out in the training was an activi…
I worked for a small nonprofit (20 employees) in California that made grants to community organizations. I really liked most of my colleagues and felt that we all got along well. In 2019 we had a diversity training led by two local women who wrote a book about racial reconciliation. The thing that sticks out in the training was an activity where the facilitators showed a list of identities/classes (sex, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, etc) and specifically listed which types of people in each identities are privileged/marginalized (e.g. men are privileged and women are marginalized).
We were then asked to think about our own identities and tell a story about a time when we experienced discrimination based on one of these characteristics. I’m appareantly the ultimate oppressor (cishet white Christian middle class man) so I didn’t have a story about one of these characteristics. Turns out I was the only one who didn’t have at least one of these marginalized identities. So while everyone else told their story, I was asked to tell about a time that I discriminated against someone. I was a shy, fat kid growing up and faced bullying, but it wasn’t on the list so I couldn’t talk about those experiences.
Anyway, it was a really negative experience being singled out like that with my colleagues. It really soured me to the whole DEI training endeavor. I ended up leaving a few months later for another job and I wonder sometimes how much that training contributed to the organization losing some of its appeal to me.
Sounds like the time you experienced discrimination was in that session. But that doesn't count, because engendering discrimination towards their disfavored populations is merely one part of the process they've devised to enrich themselves via these trainings.
I think some people use these things as a way to "get back" at someone who was terrible to them, at some point in their lives. My view is that no amount of misery I cause to some random straight dude will ever un-gay-bash me, so any misery I cause says something about me and not about the random straight dude.
Hostile work environment. Big settlements have been won for less, like peers making racist jokes that the employer should have known about and corrected.
The company hiring a firm to engage in racial harassment is far more egregious.
Serious question: if “whiteness” having an explicit negative connotation does not meet a legal standard, or having different treatment for attending “white” people (listening only, etc.,) does not meet a legal standard… what about the reverse? Would framing “blackness” as related to a set of negative features, etc. meet the standard? Is it different for historically disadvantaged groups?
I worked for a small nonprofit (20 employees) in California that made grants to community organizations. I really liked most of my colleagues and felt that we all got along well. In 2019 we had a diversity training led by two local women who wrote a book about racial reconciliation. The thing that sticks out in the training was an activity where the facilitators showed a list of identities/classes (sex, race, gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, etc) and specifically listed which types of people in each identities are privileged/marginalized (e.g. men are privileged and women are marginalized).
We were then asked to think about our own identities and tell a story about a time when we experienced discrimination based on one of these characteristics. I’m appareantly the ultimate oppressor (cishet white Christian middle class man) so I didn’t have a story about one of these characteristics. Turns out I was the only one who didn’t have at least one of these marginalized identities. So while everyone else told their story, I was asked to tell about a time that I discriminated against someone. I was a shy, fat kid growing up and faced bullying, but it wasn’t on the list so I couldn’t talk about those experiences.
Anyway, it was a really negative experience being singled out like that with my colleagues. It really soured me to the whole DEI training endeavor. I ended up leaving a few months later for another job and I wonder sometimes how much that training contributed to the organization losing some of its appeal to me.
Sounds like the time you experienced discrimination was in that session. But that doesn't count, because engendering discrimination towards their disfavored populations is merely one part of the process they've devised to enrich themselves via these trainings.
I'm sorry that happened to you.
I think some people use these things as a way to "get back" at someone who was terrible to them, at some point in their lives. My view is that no amount of misery I cause to some random straight dude will ever un-gay-bash me, so any misery I cause says something about me and not about the random straight dude.
How is it possible that having suffered bullying doesn't enter their list? It's crazy.
If it was because of a marginalized identity, it certainly would be on the list. I'm kind of surprised that being fat didn't count, though...
Dude, you should('ve) fucking sue(d). I'm totally serious. What the actual fuck.
Hostile work environment. Big settlements have been won for less, like peers making racist jokes that the employer should have known about and corrected.
The company hiring a firm to engage in racial harassment is far more egregious.
Serious question: if “whiteness” having an explicit negative connotation does not meet a legal standard, or having different treatment for attending “white” people (listening only, etc.,) does not meet a legal standard… what about the reverse? Would framing “blackness” as related to a set of negative features, etc. meet the standard? Is it different for historically disadvantaged groups?
What sort of things *would* meet the standard?
So, personal and targeted and persistent/repeated and extreme.
That’s quite employer friendly. Yikes.
Thank you for this explanation.