Paraphrased Question:
Was Kanye West racist when he said “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people”?

Answer:
I think this Kanye West interview on “Nightline” is where Kanye is at his best—slightly contrite, but perceptive: “I have a hard time believing that George Bush cares about anyone. So, sidebar, Black people also.”

I think it is unfortunate that Kanye has now apologized for “calling him a racist.” 

It’s unfortunate because his earlier reaction was the better of the two. Objectively, you cannot say that former President Bush doesn’t care ONLY about Black people; his saying that Kanye’s comments were the worst part of his presidency speaks to both his damaged thought process AND his relative lack of racist behavior. It’s important to remember that his Cabinet was relatively diverse, but that didn’t protect him from managing so poorly.

I don’t think that this incident is the best learning experience because the wounds of the Bush presidency are still ongoing (two wars, economic disaster) and the aftermath (a Black president) is being leveraged by the Koch brothers and others to build a political movement that has divisiveness as its single largest source of power aggregation.

That said, I think what we can learn from this is that everyone has a bad choice of words now and then; for example, Justice Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comments were not well phrased. It is the nature of an apology that makes the difference; a heartfelt “I’m very sorry. That was a poor choice of words. I apologize for the offense they gave” is very likely to set things straight. Kanye’s apology was very good. I just wish he hadn’t made it!

I don’t think Kanye West’s remarks were racist. Technically, they couldn’t be racist—because they were from a Black man to a white man (racism can only be directed down the economic scale, not up). At best, they could have been bigoted—but that’s a semantic argument that’s lost on most people. But “racist” is how Kanye West describes his own words, and I believe everyone has the right to their own imprimatur.

The post Ask the White Guy Answers: Was Kanye West Racist? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
I work for a major oil-manufacturing company. I am a Hispanic woman in my mid-40s. My company is very committed to diversity and inclusiveness and we have had a Diversity Council (of which I have been a member for about six years) and we also have various Diversity Networks. We are planning a Diversity Open House later this year to promote our Networks, etc. We are planning on sending out a voluntary survey to all of our 750 employees to gather interesting diverse facts to show that we are a very successful company and that is due to so many diverse backgrounds, etc. Members of our Diversity Council (most of the white ones) want to ask questions like, “What is your favorite ice cream? What is your favorite color?” What? They’re even worried about asking what is your ethnicity? They don’t want to ask what other languages do you speak; they will ask do you speak another language. I don’t get it. Do you have a survey that you can recommend that has been used in other large organizations that has shown good results with true diverse questions?

Answer:

Not only is your company’s survey useless, it takes your company a giant step backwards by trivializing diversity management. As described, your survey will not materially connect diversity with business success. Therefore, it will be correctly viewed as non-professional claptrap by most people at your company.

You might think that it’s self-apparent to believe that diversity is “good” for business. I don’t think that’s true, nor do I believe it’s proper to have a “belief” guide business–a “belief” is an acceptance of an intangible. I leave “beliefs” for religion. Business runs on facts.

Here’s the fundamental fact about diversity: Diversity by itself has nothing to do with business success. A company must manage the diversity it has to produce business results.

The reason you’re getting silly questions from your majority-culture council members is because they are dismissive of the relative value of other races/cultures. This is normal behavior; we all define culture from our own perception. Uneducated perception often leads to incorrect conclusions. For example, people believed for many centuries that the earth is flat. We’re no more intelligent as a species than we were 1000 years ago–but we’re less ignorant. Think about it.

If the white people on your Diversity Council had diversity training, it wasn’t meaningful. That’s not uncommon: Most diversity training I’ve seen is garbage.

From the majority perception, your ethnicity and even your gender are just as meaningful as the flavor of your favorite ice cream. Questions that value other cultures/genders/orientations/age groups or disabilities equally with the majority culture* are usually an insult by the majority. That’s why you often see rage from creepy Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity when people far more educated and accomplished, like Judge Sotomayor, make statements they don’t have the capacity to understand.

The fact that your “Diversity Committee” is sitting around dreaming this stuff up also tells me your company’s management is sitting on a potential publicity disaster. Keep in mind that it was an oil company executive who came up with the dopey “marbles” comment that destroyed more than $1 billion in Texaco market capitalization.

Not only is a potential liability out there, given your question, I doubt your company is reaping the rewards of proper diversity management.

Correctly implemented, diversity management increases the engagement of ALL employees by building the corporate culture that demands equity in outcome. This is because people who feel they’re being treated fairly will be more engaged. Engaged people are more productive–and more innovative.

Engagement, productivity and innovation are measurable and quantifiable. This is how you prove the business case for diversity at your company.

You will note that there are no oil companies in our DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity. Much like the price of gasoline is apparently coordinated, there seems to be agreement among companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron not to participate in the DiversityInc Top 50. So, to answer your question, no, I don’t have a survey I care to share with your oil company.

*In this country, the majority culture is white, male, heterosexual and Christian with no ADA-defined disability.

The post Are White Men Racist When They Ignore Ethnicity? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
Amazing. You said blacks can’t be racist towards whites in the USA.  What would you call the attacks on the white girls in California by a group of blacks recently?

What about areas, like cities, where blacks predominate? Can the powers that be, the blacks in this case, be racist?

And if race is based on hierarchy in the U.S. as you said, it is assumed you meant whites were at the top. Is this not a racist statement?

Answer:
By any measurement of economic and political power, whites dominate our society.

Therefore, black people can be bigots, homophobes, misogynists or haters of any other group, but they can’t be racist.

I’m done with this subject; this last post will serve as an answer to all the angry people who e-mailed me, including the guy who quoted Webster (who was a white guy, too).

The post In Places Where Blacks Predominate, Can They Be Racist? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
Why do white people make racist jokes about other cultures in front of blacks and expect us to go along with it when we know they make jokes about us when we leave the room?

In one of the major towns near where I live, a 92-year-old black women [sic] was shot to death. Because she lived alone in a bad neighborhood, she had bars on her home and a gun for protection. The manager of the facility where I work was making racist jokes about the ghetto grandmother holding her gun sideways and taking out some cops. Why do white people think this kind of thing is okay? I truly don’t get it.

Answer:
Thank you for making this point. I don’t get it either.

Perhaps some people reading this will see themselves in the first paragraph and think about it.

The post Racist Jokes Against Other Cultures Still Not OK appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
After the Michael Richards incident, I’d really like to know if you think all white people (and perhaps I should say all people) are racist at heart and that their true feelings are submerged by political correctness. Is that latent rage there in everyone?

Answer:
After seeing the video a few times, I think Michael Richards is a pathetic hate-filled man. I have no sympathy for him and I think the person overheard on the video was right: The reason he’s had no post-”Seinfeld” career is evident in his outburst.

Thankfully, most people do not have this level of rage inside of them. It may be hard for non-white people to imagine, but most white people don’t even think of race on a regular basis. I think that is the natural state for human beings. We’re tribal and when we’re within your own tribe, why would you give another tribe a second thought? Being a member of a dominant culture gives a person that luxury.

When a person who is not thinking about race gets in a situation where race is an issue, they can sometimes express themselves in inappropriate ways (“You’re so articulate,” “Some of my best friends are black,” etc.) This “politically correct speech” is almost always an expression of ignorance or unfamiliarity,” usually not bigotry or suppressed rage.

Please understand that I am not dismissing overt bigots (or self-hating people).

Good people can direct negative energy in positive ways. Discomfort from ignorance can be channeled into learning. Discrimination can be channeled into working for progress. Two weeks ago, I had lunch with Johnnie Booker, Coca-Cola’s supplier-diversity director and lifelong civil-rights activist. She told me that there is no hate in her heart but that she despises injustice. She’s worked her entire life to create opportunities for our entire country by eliminating roadblocks based on race.

In essence, this is at the heart of diversity management. Learning, knowledge, understanding, eliminating roadblocks, leveraging our differences to build better relationships with employees, customers, investors and suppliers, creating greater wealth for all by enabling equal access to talent and capital.

The post The White Guy Talks About Michael Richards appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
A woman called into a radio talk show and asked, “Why is it OK for a black person to tell a joke about a white person, but it’s not OK the other way around?” I’ve had employees ask, “Why is it OK to have executive incentives or mentor programs in place to help minorities and women, but none for the rest of us?”

The questions go on and on from why do we celebrate Black History Month, Women’s Heritage Month, etc. but never White History month. There seems to be a ground swell of people who believe that in our efforts to become an equal society, we are using double standards which are not promoting equality. What is your take?

Answer:
I’ve grown to realize that it’s not OK for anyone to tell a racial joke.

The other points in your question relate to profound ignorance on why these programs exist. There have been “double standards” throughout human history (slavery, misogyny, bigotry, homophobia, etc.) Addressing past injustices is how we move our society ahead … especially economically.

Human rights and freedom are the foundation principles of our country’s disproportionate success. Despite being imperfectly applied … our Constitution has resulted in the best meritocracy that the world has seen. Extending rights to everyone cannot help but forge a stronger and more successful society.

The post Equal Society or Double Standard? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
Have you ever used a racial slur or laughed at a racial joke?

Answer:
Race is an obsession in our country for good reasons. For any middle-aged person (I’m 47) to say that they have never used a racial epithet or laughed at a racial joke is like saying they didn’t inhale. I’m sure that there are those of us who are as pure as the driven snow, but I’m not one of them.

I’ve never been mean-spirited around race and I can credit my parents for that. But as a white guy, I had a lot to learn.

Now I’d consider myself more sensitive than the average person. For example, I can no longer listen to comics who use racial epithets. It’s just not funny to me. I agree with Oprah about the N-word. Recently, at Bennett College, I heard her discuss hip-hop language with the students. She said the N-word was the last word most lynched people heard before they died.

The post Ever Laughed at a Racist Joke? appeared first on DiversityInc.