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[–]WickedWitchOfTheWest 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

'I Was Asked To Agree to a "White People Are Racist" Contract at Work'

Meanwhile, one of the trainings I was given noted that white supremacy is "a smog we all ingest." Another was about how our organization was complicit in systemic racism and white supremacy. It was a given that if you're white, you're racist. And I was even asked to agree to a "Full Value Contract" shared over email that included a point saying we had to "Own that all white people are racist and that I am not the exception."

The "Full Value Contract" was intended to govern our behavior during Legal Center meetings. My view was that everything else about this "Full Value Contract" was fine. But there was that one line that stated that all white people are racist and that I'm not the exception. That was my sole objection.

We're lawyers, and we look at words, and we take the meaning of words seriously. And we're not going to stop doing that. So I refused to agree to using words that I saw as dividing people.

[...]

I know racism exists, and I want to eliminate it. By saying America is not a racist country, I'm not denying that racism exists. It is there. But I don't personally believe in Ibram X. Kendi's idea of anti-racism—which in part states that the only way to address prior racist discrimination is through present anti-racist discrimination—is going to eliminate racism, I personally think it's going to make it worse. By pitting different identities against each other. I don't think that that's the way we should be operating in this country. And as an attorney, I believe a lot of what I experienced violated civil rights laws.

So, I have submitted an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against my employer for singling out white people to agree to a "Full Value Contract", or set of standards in the workplace, saying they're racist. I believe this is in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. You're not allowed to scapegoat any race, including white people, for whatever purpose. A racially hostile atmosphere is one in which there are constantly messages of stereotyping, discriminating, scapegoating, one race, which is what I feel I experienced.

Leopards, face, etc.