White People Resisting Racism at Work--See race in the workplace

Warning: This post is for white folks.

I assume you, like me, consider yourself to be one of the "good" white persons. We believe all people deserve to be treated equally, and we believe we do treat all people equally--regardless of race.

If that is the case, and if workplaces across the country are filled with white people mostly like us; why are the hiring, promotion and compensation outcomes for folks of color consistently WORSE?

When I ask myself that question, I then often think, 'Well--the disparities in hiring, promotion and compensation outcomes are because of BIG institutional and historical racist reasons.'

Or I think, 'Well, it's sad, but there isn't anything I can do, except treat all people with respect.'

My job is to STOP those thoughts in their tracks because they are tools of white supremacy used to maintain the status quo.

Yes, there are historical and institutional racist reasons for the disparity in employment, and yes we should treat all people with respect. However, we, as "good" and "non-racist" white people bring our implicit biases to the workplace. These biases manifest as patterns of behavior that collectively create work environments where being white means we have more access to jobs, promotions, and higher wages.

I will be posting tools we can use to challenge the racist status quo -- in our minds and in our work environments.

The first tool is to see race at work.

For one week be a race see-er. Notice the following:

--What percentage of employees at your workplace are people of color?

--What percentage of managers are people of color? Of managers of color--how many were hired from outside the organization into manager positions? How many were promoted into manager positions?

--How do you and other white employees respond to the perspectives and contributions of employees of color?

--What are the races of the people you are closest to at work? Who do you trust the most? Who do you seek guidance from? Who do you unwind with at work? Why? How do these relationships promote racial equity...or not.

Seeing race doesn't make you a perpetrator of racism in the workplace -- NOT seeing race in the workplace does.

#workingwhilewhite #racialequity #antiracism #whitepeopleatwork