MIT Management Review
Systematic injustice in the work place
Rachel Crupi
Injustice is occurring everywhere around the world all the time, but specifically prominent in the US work system. There is a discrimination between men and women setting women behind, but even more discrimination based off of race, making black women have the toughest barrier to hurdle. Jennifer Joe and Wendy Smith writ from “The Conversation” that president Joe Biden “committed the US government to racial equity by issuing four executive orders on January 26 that seek to curb systematic racism”. This article focuses on what co workers and those with higher positions can do to support and be an antidote to systematic racism in the workplace. This article brought to my attention that even asking “what can I do” isn’t the best way to help because it implies that their is a power dynamic when the main goal is to remove that and create equality. Joe and Smith concluded after numerous interviews that acknowledging the strengths and talents that those of color have in the workplace and apply them creates a more effective, beneficial workplace for both parties. Those of color have said they try to perform at higher levels just to prove to their colleagues that they have the same talents and abilities as their fellow coworkers- specifically the white ones. This is unfair to those of color to have to work harder to prove that they are at the same level as their white coworkers when they may even be at a higher level, but won’t be seen that way because of their color. Recognizing how to act differently and properly will benefit those of color and their company if the dislocation can be eliminated.
DeBeauvoir’s excerpt from “The Second Sex” discusses the concept of Other which is prominent in every single racist remark, action and situation. That is where racism comes into play as the racist view the group they are discriminating against as other because they are not them and in their minds that makes them “lesser” people. She writes “In small–town eyes all persons not belonging to the village are ‘strangers’” and this is still how some people view others but where is this “criteria” that they do not belong, where does this idea of us versus them stem from and why is it continuing after all these years with major legal and social movement.
Avery, Derek, and Erinca Ruggs. “Confronting The Uncomfortable Reality Of Workplace Discrimination”. MIT Sloan Management Review, 2021, https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/confronting-the-uncomfortable-reality-of-workplace-discrimination/.
Joe, J. and Smith, W., 2021. 3 ways Black people say their white co-workers and managers can support them and be an antidote to systemic racism. [online] The Conversation. Available at: <https://theconversation.com/3-ways-black-people-say-their-white-co-workers-and-managers-can-support-them-and-be-an-antidote-to-systemic-racism-154052> [Accessed 13 March 2021].