Making Peace?
At my workplace, the Diversity & Inclusion flag waves high. Over the past few months, more and more people are self-identifying their ethnic and racial backgrounds with pride, adding their pronouns to their signatures, all while membership in the various D&I groups within the broader organization is spiking.
I, in fact, recently joined the Latino Professionals group, and I have quickly found myself volunteering for various committees and initiatives.
While I am truly proud of our leadership’s commitment to create a more inclusive work environment, it wasn’t always like this.
D&I was certainly a key area of focus, but the company only recently created executive positions for D&I, and ramped up its efforts in earnest to train existing employees on the meanings of a diverse talent force, while actively recruiting diverse employees.
Everyone seems to be on board.
Seems, that is.
During one such training at work recently, under Zoom anonymity, someone added to the chat an email link to report what the Trump Administration calls “un-American trainings” workplace.
In September, the Federal Office of Management and Budget tweeted that such trainings promote Critical Race Theory and “must be stopped.”
When a company says load and clear, “We are creating a diverse and inclusive workplace,” and those aggrieved by that make a fuss, what are they to do?
For the white nationalist militias that want to overthrow state governments are thwarted, where are they to go?
For those who can’t stand that Columbus Day should be Indigenous People’s Day, who can they complain to?
Each other. And they can go on living here hoping the ghosts of the past will go away, or they can learn to make peace with them. Or, the aggrieved can hit the road, Jack.
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Photo by Cristian Newman on Unsplash