Do white men legitimize corporate diversity programs?

There certainly was a devil on one shoulder suggesting confrontation, but it just would have made it worse, lowered myself to his level of conduct.

Many years ago... say 1990 or so, I interviewed and hired a woman who was of Miq'Maq Indian descent. She was born on a reservation (and has since returned, Canada paid to put her through law school. In return she would work to assist those on the reservation.) Anyway, she shared stories of what happened at her previous position in Boston, how coworkers would drum on their desks just to tease her. When you know someone and see the hurt in their eyes because of what people do simply because they percieve someone different it tears at your soul. I surely hope we have made progress past such ignorance.

nelle ( http://nelle2nelle.net/ )

Not just with execs and upper management, but co-workers as well. In an utopian world,racial (or otherwise) friction shouldn't have to reach the point where management is given the task of telling adults how to properly interact with each other, but I have learned the hard way that the people you interact with in the workplace don't necessarily interact with people outside of their cultural background outside of the office and working with a diverse group of people is the only place where they interact...even in big, cosmopolitan cities.

But how much tolerance should POC's, women and the disabled have when dealing with ignorant co-workers? It's a good thing, Nelle, you were able to laugh off the 'it' comment - I would have hunted down the person who said that and slapped them. But I'm not cut out to do the 9-5 thing! But we all have to pay the bills....

Given white guys still have predominant control and influence, without their buying into things it will take more effort.

It's not just this, not just senior management support, it takes a concerted effort across the board. Management can certainly send a message, but the undercurrents that tend to be more hidden can still leave people feeling uneasy.

When I first started with this agency, one that has a very clear and unambiguous anti-discrimination policy, inside of two weeks there were rumours about me, even though I was in training and not even interacting with people in the main location. Quick action was taken to put an end to it, and I only became aware when they asked me if the action they intended to take was ok with me.

Fast forward half a year, I am in training for a new position, and one of the people I was training with was asked by one of the workers in that same locale "how does it feel to be working with 'it?'

She told me about it, and I just laughed, believing interacting with me would change minds, and in fact it has... but having the policy, having upper management support just is not enough. People have to get why and believe it is the right way to go.

nelle ( http://nelle2nelle.net/ )

OK. My issues with diversity is that people start thinking that you act one way or another because you are such-and-such. When I was in grad school, a woman thought that my cousin was a sell out because she, as a Chinese person, was going to wear a white bridal gown when she got married. "Don't Chinese women wear red?" she asked. "Isn't white a colour of mourning?" The truth is, Chinese women, especially those from Hong Kong, Singapore and perhaps Taiwan, all wear white. It's just the way things are. They wear white at the ceremony, and PERHAPS would change into red at the reception. When I was at my last job, a woman was completely in shock that my parents, nay, my grandparents, didn't have an arranged marriage. She thought that Chinese culture was pretty much as "traditional" as hers (her family is from Pakistan)and that dating and "love marriages" were a new thing. Finally, in the media, minorities=underprivilged. So tell me, is a Chinese Canadian male who is an Old Boy of Upper Canada College (or a female who is an Old Girl of say, Havergal), whose father (or mom) is a partner in a law firm UNDERPRIVILEGED? Surely he is much more privilged than the typical Canadian, regardless of race. The general public also assumes that schools like UCC and BSS are "very, very white." How wrong they are!

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