Expert explains how groupings negatively affect diverse groups
Call a Black person Black – not someone who belongs to the BIPOC group, one expert said in an HRD podcast.
“I think it's very lazy. I think that it… essentially says that ‘Because you're not White, we all have the same experience, the same problems, the same issues’,” said LeRon Barton, writer, author and TEDx speaker, in the HRD podcast episode.
“I am a 44-year-old Black man. I don't want to be called anything other than Black.”
Barton claims that people will “try to do anything they can” to avoid saying the word Black. And that goes against recognizing the lived experience of diverse groups.
“It essentially says that ‘Oh, because you're not white, we all have the same experience, the same problem, the same issues’. And yes, we do all suffer against racism and white supremacy – but our individual experiences with that are different. That’s why I think terms like BIPOC are goofy,” he says in the podcast for HRD.
With diversity being such an important and broad topic, HR can’t afford to slip up, says Barton, who explains why it’s important for employers to elevate people of diverse backgrounds to leadership roles.
“A lot of employers tend to do very cosmetic things,” said Barton. “It’s very ineffective. Employers will have people that look like myself as window dressing just to prove that they’re a diverse company. However, there’s no Black people that represent leadership – that are in a position to change things.”
Barton also talked with HRD how human resources management teams can win the hearts of people from different background in their fight for diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Catch the full episode of Stop using ‘diversity groupings’ and ‘sloppy slogans’ in the fight against racism on HRD’s podcast today.
