[Closed] Dealing with racism in the workplace?

Personal choice.

Me, I always challenge it. It can be tricky to avoid coming across as antagonistic or as a pompous arse, but it can be done.

Challenge the statements / attitudes, not the people e.g.

"I think that statement is ...[racist]"

not

"You are ..[a racist]"

Asking questions is less antagonistic (done properly) than making statements, it also can (should) encourage the person to think about what they've said.

Remember what you want to achieve: if you set out to make someone feel bad, or to make yourself seem virtuous, it won't end well, if you set out to make people question their prejudices or how they express them, this is more likely to have a positive outcome.

i find a simple "my wife is black" or "how do you get 3 blondes onto a bar stool?" is enough to move people away from the casual racism

A nice bit of hypocrisy in the two example statements there." Why don't they move?" And "how dare they move [i]here[/i]?". Could point that out? Especially if it means you start off an inter-racist argument!

I have to put with people going on about stuff I don't agree with where I work, I tend to let it go over my head...

edlong
One of the most sensible posts on this type of subject that I've seen on this forum. Well said.

Thanks Ed thats good advice! it just seems wrong to just shut up and not challenge them, it's always the loudmouths that dominate.

A nice bit of hypocrisy in the two example statements there." Why don't they move?" And "how dare they move here?". Could point that out? Especially if it means you start off an inter-racist argument!

Lol well yes hadn't seen that but they were just examples but will remember that

One of the most sensible posts on this type of subject that I've seen on this forum. Well said.

Well that's killed the discussion off. Coming round here with your common sense answers, that's not the STW way! 🙂

unfortunately it is an occupational hazzard when working with the unwashed, Sun-reading working classes.

Hope that didn't sound too pompous... ;o)

Just be very careful what you say, in my experience. Often it's not 'the unwashed' as you call them, who are the worst offenders .....

+1 on what Edlong advised!

unfortunately it is an occupational hazzard when working with the unwashed, Sun-reading working classes.

Hope that didn't sound too pompous... ;o)

Lol I know you jest, but actually the office types can be just as bad!

Apologies, what I meant was that you should own their shoes and wee in some Bombers.

Anything else would be tantamount to condoning the rise of the Nazis.

i've found people are much more comfortable airing their racist views when in the company of people that look like them. why not hire somebody from a different ethnic background or as a cheaper option, lifesize cardboard cut-outs.

"Perhaps there's a good reason why they can't move."

freeagent - Member
unfortunately it is an occupational hazzard when working with the unwashed, Sun-reading working classes.

Hope that didn't sound too pompous... ;o)

It sounds just as prejudice as the people the Op wants to know how to tackle. 🙄

"... taking our jobs".

"Oh. When are you leaving, then?"

Lol I know you jest, but actually the office types can be just as bad!

Indeed. The worst offender I've ever encountered was a middle manager who was also a Special. A right nasty piece of work. Eventually sacked on the spot for openly using the 'N' word, to a black guy we had freelancing with us, in front of everybody. Nice!

why not hire somebody from a different ethnic background or as a cheaper option, lifesize cardboard cut-outs.

Or 'black up' yourself? maybe accessorising by a comedy Lenny Henry/Delbert Wilkins style big rasta hat and dreadlocks. Or say you've converted to Islam, and start coming into work in bulky body warmer with wires sticking out of the pockets

Straight to HR

I couldn't work with people like that so if you [b]have[/b] to my advice would be to leave well alone. People like that are filled with hatred, hatred that can just as easily be redirected at you and is deep seated enough to not easily be challenged.

I pulled up a bloke once who was banging on about all the f'ing Poles in Reading. I pointed out that the Poles made up a large contingent of the RAF in WW2 and they were a noble and much admired people, he made it his life's work to piss me off after that.

live 10 miles from a water hole why dont they bloomin well move closer!"

Ask them why they don't live nearer work .

Their remark strikes me as ignorant but not specifically racist. Although may be motivated by a racist mentality

so- how do you get 3 blondes onto a bar stool?

turn it upside down

Straight to HR

My work place is shopfloor warehouse in Birmingham. I would say there is a 50/50 split of blacks and whites and around 80% are under 45. Racism is not a problem. The only comments that you would class a racist tend to come from the "older" generation. I suppose it was how they were brought up. My home town which is ten miles from Birmingham is mainly populated by whites and the attitudes towards our foreign cousins is very different. I think it depends on the area and the age group. IMO.

live 10 miles from a water hole why dont they bloomin well move closer!"
Ask them why they don't live nearer work .

Their remark strikes me as ignorant but not specifically racist. Although may be motivated by a racist mentality

No it was just a repeatable from a conversation today that made me think, there are lots worse than that but i dont want a ban!

It's not even the 'unwashed' or office workers who are at it.

Here's 2 examples;

A friends parents decided to moved back to Ghana. A deciding factor was that they didn't like the type of people who were moving into East Ham.

I was in our local chippy and started chatting to a ****stani bloke in the line, he started complaining how the area was going downhill as there were loads of Eastern Europeans moving in to the area. "They're verys noisy, they drink a lot, there's always trouble and there's loads of them who live in one house. He was considering selling up and moving to a Wanstead where his brother was as it was a nicer area.

Or 'black up' yourself? maybe accessorising by a comedy Lenny Henry/Delbert Wilkins style big rasta hat and dreadlocks. Or say you've converted to Islam, and start coming into work in bulky body warmer with wires sticking out of the pockets

Liking this.......

I was in our local chippy and started chatting to a ****stani bloke in the line, he started complaining how the area was going downhill as there were loads of Eastern Europeans moving in to the area. "They're verys noisy, they drink a lot, there's always trouble and there's loads of them who live in one house. He was considering selling up and moving to a Wanstead where his brother was as it was a nicer area.

Hypocrisy like that always makes chuckle 😆

unless the ****stani bloke in the chippy queue drinks a lot, is very noisy and lives in a house with loads of people i dont see how its hypocritical....

Lots of people decide for whatever reason theyu dont like someone, using colour is easy as they cant change the colour of birth.

We have a couple of very narrow minded folk in the office too. Very much "us" and "them"....

Sadly, I don't think they'll ever change.

Always challenge is my view. How politely is your choice

Doesn't have to be specific philconsequence, I meant that the ****stani bloke was, or his forefathers at least were immigrants at some stage, and people may have well been making the same comments about him in the chippy queue how ever many years ago.

It'd be like you complaining about immigrants then emigrating essentially turning you into the immigrant you wanted to get away from.

If someone drinks too much, is loud and have a house full, what does it matter that they are immigrants...Or is certain racism OK?

I think the racism comes in when you encounter a house full of loud pissheads and you assume, without further evidence, that they must be Eastern Europeans because of their loud pissheadedness. Or, when you meet some Eastern Europeans that you assume, only because of their Eastern Europeanness, that they must be loud pissheads living 10 to a room.

Surely the ****stani guy was being xenophobic rather than racist? Seeing as "Polish" is a nationality, not a race.

i dont believe racism is ok at all. i was just reading into your comment as being a 'lol at the immigrant laughing at the immigrants'ncomment. my interpretation is now confusing me as your reply to me suggests your still viewing the ****stani chap as an immigrant despite him possibly being born here... but then you go on to read into my comment as suggesting that certain types of racism are ok if the people are a niusance suggesting you're reading my comment and thinking 'oh the racist idiot' and proceed to pull me up on it.

hoping it's just us both pulling each other up on perceived racism.

That's a different debate. If you look into it, you'll find not much that we categorise as "race" has any rigorous scientific basis. Think about it, it's all stuff that is very visual, skin pigmentation, facial structure. There's shed loads of genetic variations between humans that are at least as, if not more significant than these but as they're not immediately evident on getting first sight of someone, it's the skin stuff we define "race" by.

Is a brown skinned black haired person more or less similar to a brunette, white skinned person, than a black haired, white person?

How about genetic predisposition to, say, a certain cancer or to a stroke, or dementia? (and if the insurance industry gets their way with advances in genetic screening, that definition is going to be more relevant in the future to your chances of getting a decent job than the pigmentation of your skin)

EDIT: In reply to joao3v16 two comments up from this

I am genuinely quite astonished at the OP's comments - I thought this sort of nonsense had gone now, reading it and some of the comments above is really depressing.

Whatever else I may think of my job, it makes me realise that I am lucky in this respect and for the diversity of my colleagues - out of about 21 of us, I reckon off the top of my head 7 were born in the UK. I have generally worked with a variety of backgrounds and think that's fantastic. I just cannot believe people think like the above, and would even think to say anything like that even if they did. Quite rightly, if I spoke like that I would be out of the door in seconds.

phil - i said the ****stani bloke or his forefathers, either of them at some point were immgrants...I have stated this clearly in the post you are commenting on. I didn't think "racist idiot" btw.

My point is is that if racism is bad, then it is all bad.

Some people do seem to think that selective racism is OK, which it obviously isn't.

I am genuinely quite astonished at the OP's comments - I thought this sort of nonsense had gone now, reading it and some of the comments above is really depressing.

No not gone in the slightest, some people will always be racist IME, it's just their nature, economic recessions dont help either.

I feel it would help if the workforce was more of a mix, maybe thats the problem

We are still allowed to bully ginger people though, aren't we?

Binners Oh yes sure, they dont have the same feelings as normal people.

Carry on..... 🙂

http://gingerfightback.com

I took a Summer job with Sunderland council whilst a student here. I've always worked in shop floor environments and considered myself quite hardened to extreme (and extremely stupid) racist pronouncements. But these boys took it to a whole new level. Right across the generations.

The older guys who had worked in the shipyards were the worst, but the young lads were almost as bad. One black guy got daily, in-your-face, racist abuse and bullying. He gave as good as he got and flatly refused to go down any formal complaint routes.

Had a storming argument with one of the young guys after he spat at a Chinese student lass who was wearing a Union Jack t-shirt! Like the bloody dark ages 🙁