Addressing Racism

November 1, 2020 2:39 PM

I work at large healthcare facility, which recently had a pumpkin decorating contest. One of the submissions was an extremely racist caricature. It is currently on display in a public, but out-of-the-way part of the building. I would like this to be addressed by my organization. How do I handle this?

The goal of me speaking up is to educate the department that created this, so hopefully it never happens again. My employer does have a public face that prides itself on racial equality, inclusion, and gender and sexuality issues, (which they've made material steps to embody), so I do have hope that this could have a good ending, given the circumstances.

The pumpkin in question is labeled "medicine man", and is, to my knowledge, a mishmash of white interpretations of generic "native American" imagery, including a plastic dollar store "feather" headband and fake bone breastplate.
I don't want to go public with this or post to social media, I don't think public outrage gets intended results. I also don't want to just send an email to HR and drop it, for fear that they'll just remove the pumpkin and not actually address the root issues - racial ignorance. I'm not native, and would not be able to do the education that I'd like to see (even if I was a member of the minority I would not want this responsibility anyway, ideally this would be handled by someone who is a professional when it comes to corporate sensitivity training.)
So mostly I'm asking for how best to address this that 1)makes sure its actually handled, and 2)handled by the right person, all without overstepping my own boundaries and limitations.

posted by FirstMateKate to Human Relations (6 answers total)

I guess if it were me I would be thinking sort of like this:

1. The pumpkin is gross. But I will assume as a working hypothesis the person who made this pumpkin wasn't being deliberately racist. I'm going to assume they are simply not aware. I'm even going to assume they'd be horrified to hear that others could see their pumpkin as racist.
2. I want them to understand that, if they are open to learning. I don't want to jump right away to publicly humiliating them or, even worse, maybe getting them fired.
3. So I really only have one choice, as distasteful as it is. I will summon up my courage and talk to them directly. I will explain to them why their pumpkin sends out racist vibes and suggest they remove it.
4. If they understand and remove the pumpkin, case closed. They have learned something in private and have become a bit more sensitive to the fact that what can seem merely innocent or playful sometimes isn't. Learning has occurred!
5. If they push back, argue, or get angry. Then I would feel free to go to HR. Or maybe even go public.

tl;dr: Teach, don't humiliate. You are the right person to handle this. If you aren't willing to, then do nothing.
posted by mono blanco at 3:45 PM on November 1, 2020 [2 favorites]

I think mono blanco has good advice, although I am less generous towards the decorators of the racist pumpkin (they probably weren't acting racist in the sense of deliberately setting out to do something offensive, but I would still consider it a racist act, and I wouldn't be surprised if you get some, "aw, lighten up!" attitude).

But I think another avenue would be to start with whoever was in charge of the pumpkin contest, because they should have already had this conversation with whoever decorated that pumpkin! And if you talk to the pumpkin contest organizer and they push back, deflect, whatever, then go to HR (or if the contest was organized by someone in HR, go over that person's head).

It doesn't have to start out confrontational - it can be an email that says, "Hey, [pumpkin contest organizer] - I don't know if you've seen it but the 'medicine man' pumpkin over in [department] is really culturally insensitive. I'm not sure what [department]'s intent was but it reads as a racist caricature. Have you talked to [department] about it? I think it should be taken down because it's really out of touch with [organization]'s commitment to racial equality and culturally competent medicine [or whatever]."
posted by mskyle at 4:04 PM on November 1, 2020 [22 favorites]

I think mskyle's version makes the most sense to me. I can't see how approaching the person who made the pumpkin could turn out well. Even if we agree on the difference (if any) between cultural insensitivity and racism, there's no way to avoid telling person X that they had manifested some measure of ignorance, or worse, when they created the caricature. In the best outcome, you will be asserting your value judgment over that of person X. In the worst, you will be asserting your moral superiority.

It might be that talking with the organizer about your views would be appropriate. Maybe the organizer knows who to turn to for appropriate advice. One hopes someone in your organization knows how to parse this so that no feelings are unnecessarily hurt. It seems (by your account) that your organization has at least a better than cursory attitude about this sort of thing.

Good luck.
posted by mule98J at 4:50 PM on November 1, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: When you say your organization has taken steps to make good on their desires to be inclusive, was one of those steps creating a role that helps in situations like this? Like a diversity officer or diversity committee, something along those lines? I would say if you do have someone(s) in this position, you should approach them because the message to the department that created the problematic pumpkin will be better coming from them than from you as an individual or from HR (which in my experience does not have as much of an educational role, even the good HR departments, just dealing with stuff as it comes up). A diversity officer/committee worth their salt will be prepared for situations like this to come up, and will know how to use it as an educational experience for the ignorant.

If you do not have a diversity officer/committee, I'd say you should take this example and go to someone high up in the organization to suggest that one be created. This serves two purposes: 1) it alerts someone high up enough to do something about it that there is a problematic display that needs to be removed and the creators talked to about why it's inappropriate, and 2) it alerts someone high up enough to do something about it that they need to expand their efforts to create a diverse and equitable organization.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 6:22 PM on November 1, 2020 [16 favorites]

There were a couple different in specifics but similar in general idea situations at my workplace over the past months. That is, my workplace has publicly committed to improving diversity (bordering on though just shy of supporting anti-racism as an institutional value, but there have been some positive institutional actions taken). But in two cases, something made it through review processes (involving two or just a few people) that was... not well worded. I tried the 'addressing things directly and non-publicly with individuals' approach. Possibly relevant here is that, like you, my role at work is unrelated to any anti-racism or diversity initiatives, so my comments were just coming from a random co-worker in both cases. I got a defensive brush-off reaction in both cases, despite spending hours revising my wording to try to be as non-accusatory and understanding and positive as possible (eg. "I'm sure you didn't mean this interpretation and there's no reason why it should have occured to you, but with this other particular experience I have, I noticed blah blah...").

In my particular workplace, this is unlikely to have negative employment consequences for me, so I'll still speak up directly when I see something important like this that is both against our professed institutional values and my personal values, especially where I can think of a specific suggestion for improvement that would be relatively straightforward and easy (which might include "we all make mistakes, just don't do this specific thing again, okay?"). But partly that's related to my understanding that, as a white person, effective anti-racism work on my part will make some of my fellow white people uncomfortable (their discomfort is not the goal, and is not in itself necessarily an indicator that I'm doing anything useful or effective, just that it's also unavoidable if I am usefully or effectively contributing to anti-racism, so I need to learn to recognize when it is unavoidable and not be disuaded or too discouraged by that). But (now that my workplace finally has someone whose job this is) I also need to keep in mind the official channels for raising such concerns or issues. And many other folks have to be a bit more careful about potential blowback in their employment situation than I do, which might include you.
posted by eviemath at 7:17 AM on November 3, 2020

Response by poster: Just an update for everyone - just this year the company has created a diversity and inclusion committee. That had slipped my mind, but hurdy gurdy girl's answer jogged my memory. I sent an email, describing it as "racially insensitive" rather than racist, to help manage my tone. So far I have received an email with a generic "It was not our intent but we are sorry it came across as inappropriate" apology, an offer to meet with me in person, and a promise to send my feedback to the department in question as well as the co-chairs of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. They thanked me for the "learning experience". I looked more into the DEI council, and they came out in favor of anti-racism and were pro-BLM, as well as some other steps, and with that info I'm glad I reported and I do believe they are trying their best.
posted by FirstMateKate at 1:37 PM on November 5, 2020 [1 favorite]