Diversity Doesn’t Apply To You, Whitey
The city of Denver is showing its employees a diversity training video that portrays a white man as a narrow-minded buffoon – triggering allegations of “institutional racism” against Anglos.
The video, titled Laughing Matters – Think About It, is meant to show employees how humor at the expense of others diminishes respect in the workplace. The character who breaks all the rules is Billy, a white, blue-collar worker who’s a racist, sexist goofball.
The problem is that the only character who breaks rules is a white guy.
Kathy Maloney, spokeswoman for the Career Service Authority, said the video is part of a one- to three-hour facilitated discussion.
“The video itself is scheduled for updating in either 2008 or 2009, so (Supple’s) input would certainly be taken into consideration for the next video,” she said.
Maloney noted the last thing to appear on the 8-minute video is this phrase: “Remember, Billy could be anyone.”
She also said the teaching guide tells facilitators to “ensure participants recognize this video does not highlight or target any particular individual or group.”
“It’s meant to represent anyone who could (use) inappropriate humor in the workplace,” she said.
Supple said he raised concerns about the video during his diversity-training class but that they were brushed off. When he met with Maxfield, Supple said she told him it was “no big deal.”
Right. If you have a concern about diversity and you’re white then it’s no big deal.
Sounds like Kathy Maloney needs a little diversity training.
“If you portrayed a black woman (or a Hispanic or a homosexual) in that manner, there’d be hell to pay,” Supple said. “But it’s OK for them to portray a white man in this manner because you put down one little (disclaimer) at the end of the (video) that says, ‘Remember, anybody could be Billy.’ That’s a bunch of bull.”
So if we had a police training video that only showed black men committing crimes, it wouldn’t bother anybody as long as they put a little disclaimer at the end that said, “Remember, anybody could be Tyrone”.
