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In the first part of this series, published last Wednesday, I discussed why it is that white people and people of colour have different perspectives about the current status of race relations and why diversity training is only the first step in the process of understanding how structural racism continues to manifest itself in our society. This, the second part of this article below focuses on the "white business model" and true life examples of structural racism in Bermuda.

By and large business today is run on a "white business model" - go anywhere in the world and you will see companies being run in a similar way, whether they're in New York or Paris, or Johannesburg or Tokyo. The reasons behind this range from 400 years of immigration to the New World; invasion; centuries of colonialism; or today's modern day equivalent: global expansion and a global, migratory workforce. Diversity in the workforce is now reality, and from a company perspective diversity training encourages staff on an individual level to change their perspectives about people of different culture and colour, however it can fail to look at the dominant organizational norms, cultures and structures.

Bermuda's national values are very similar to that of the United States, that is one of "Equal Opportunity" or what we call a level playing field; "Meritocracy" that is our advancement depends solely on talent and effort; and "Individualism/Personal Responsibility" that is our individual choices and behaviours determine outcomes. However, these national values negate the material and psychological advantages of some groups; reinforce the myth that individual skills and effort wholly determine outcomes; and implicitly infers that laziness or a poor work ethic is the reason for the failure to get ahead. Thus our contemporary culture's societal norms, values and practices continue to reinforce racial stereotypes and emphasize "innate" capacities of different groups. (Source: Aspen Institute).

How does structural racism materialize in the workplace? What does this mean for companies in Bermuda? Let me give you a couple of examples.

As a result of hearing Tim Wise, a leading anti-racist author and activist, speak at a CURB public presentation, two senior executives of a leading international company contacted CURB to discuss the reason why they were finding it difficult to hire and retain black Bermudians. They realized they had a racial imbalance in their workforce, and were sincere in wanting to correct it but hadn't been able to figure out what was wrong.

This company had a position available for a young university graduate and they were willing to offer training. A number of individuals applied including one young black Bermudian, however this young man arrived 15 minutes late for his interview, explaining he had bike problems. A senior executive noted that on several occasions staff involved in the interview process pointedly told him that this young man was late.

Benefit of the doubt denied

Needless to say this young man was not successful in obtaining the job. Following the Tim Wise presentation these executives understood that they may well have lost a very capable and intelligent young applicant because they were unaware of the local culture in which they operated, and were unwilling to give this young man the benefit of the doubt and provide him the training he may have needed in time keeping.

Secondly the executives noted they had a number of very highly educated employees many from the best private schools in England. These young men were by and large from privileged backgrounds, confident and secure in their abilities, and being English they brought with them to Bermuda their satirical sparring and teasing, quite often laughingly putting each other down. Again these two executives, after hearing Tim Wise's presentation, realized that this kind of satire might not be appreciated by black Bermudians, and in fact could be considered offensive in a different cultural context. They realized that this perhaps was one of the reasons why they had difficulty retaining black employees, especially males, after they had only been with the company a year or two.

These examples go some way in providing concrete answers to oft-quoted questions: What is the daily impact of the legacy of racism? How do white people gain advantages from structural racism without any intent on their part? Why is it we can't retain our black employees?

It allows us to see how structural and cultural factors implicit in an organization unknowingly influence hiring procedures or alienate people of colour.

So when we refer to evaluating the existence of structural racism within companies, it is not about working towards individual enlightenment... instead we are looking to analyse how structural racism, often unknowingly and without intent, is perpetuated by company culture, its norms, its beliefs, practices, policies and procedures.

In the final part of this series I will provide concrete ways for companies and organizations to become proactive in making the changes necessary to affect positive social change both in their organizations and in the broader community.

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