A DiversityInc reader said: "I see the struggle as an individual struggle, not as a group struggle." We asked you for comments on this and about people you know who just "are not getting it," and here's how you responded.

Click here to submit a question or comment to "Ask the White Guy."

(See also: Why Whites Don't Understand the 'Struggle')

Women definitely know the "struggle" in corporate America! Your recent article "Why Whites Don't Understand the 'Struggle'" is completely dismissive to white women. It is highly probable that sexism was the first "ism" ever, and it has only barely begun to change. Every day I experience negative stereotyping, lack of opportunity and outright hostility just for being a woman! I have seen men that I've trained get promoted over me. My husband consistently makes more money than me, consistently gets promoted more than me. He and I are in the exact same profession, we have the same experience level, and I have more university credentials than he does! When I do something assertive, it is called aggressive, and I'm told to stop. If my husband does something assertive, he's called a "go-getter," and gets awards, kudos and/or promotions.

—Jennifer Vanderputten

I just read your article and it really hit close to home. I'm a black man with a wife and three kids. I have been married for 15 years [and] don't have a criminal record. I'm drug free and seeking my master's in health services. However, I still have not found that career my parents and teachers were telling me I would get if I studied hard and stayed clean. I really believe that corporate America needs to take diversity training more serious [sic].

—Dennis Magsby

I was talking to the director of diversity of my city's preeminent human-resources organization. Being new to the area, I was asking him about the diversity climate and how easy or difficult it was to get companies onboard. His response to me was, "Well, most companies still want the best qualified candidate, but they are coming around." But don't we all want the best qualified candidate? And if the director of diversity believes you have to sacrifice qualification for diversity, what hope is there? And if this were not ironic enough for you, he is Latino.

—Cynthia Duval

When white people refer to African Americans as uppity, arrogant, not knowing their place, it is a signal that they believe African Americans should not behave as if they are fully human and deserving the respect associated with surviving centuries of denigration and excelling in spite of it.

—Delorme McKee-Stovall

I have a coworker [who] asked me one day, "What is that?!" I replied, "This?" holding up my grapefruit. "Yeah, that," she replies. Puzzled, I answered "a grapefruit." I forget all about it and a few days later I see her with a grapefruit. She cuts the grapefruit in half, but instead of cutting in the middle she cuts it along the slices. Now when she began to spoon it out, she is making a big mess. So I ask, "Why did you cut along the slice angle and not against the grain?" "What difference does it make?" she replies. It makes a big difference, I think, she is digging extra hard because she does not have the triangles sliced round ways, and angle wise. A few days later she does the same thing. Before she has completed the task I intervene and show her what I mean. Do not cut along the navel but crosswise against the navel. As I proceed she is fascinated. Now I am 47 years old and she is at least 52 years old. How did this slip past her?

—Doreen Gartrell

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