This reminds me of a special award that some folks that were part of a [special ethnic group] wanted me to compete for. It was "[special ethnic group] Engineer

This reminds me of a special award that some folks that were part of a [special ethnic group] wanted me to compete for. It was "[special ethnic group] Engineer of the Year Award 20xx". My boss (who was not part of [special ethnic group]) sent me an email saying "Hey, there is this award thing that HR is doing and they say since you are of [special ethnicity] they want you to participate in." My reply was a Shermanesque statement to my boss, basically saying I was not interested but to tell HR that I would be happy to run for "Engineer of the Year Award 20xx." My boss didn't care much but told me that HR said they did not have that award, and no answer as to why they didn't. At least they did not tell us that the award existed but I was not allowed to participate!