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Maybe the reason for the attrition. I'm a white dude but work in a foreign country (also predominantly white). For the most part I'm just "one of the guys". I

Maybe the reason for the attrition. I'm a white dude but work in a foreign country (also predominantly white). For the most part I'm just "one of the guys". I only really feel like an outsider when corporate policy dictates we have to talk about cultural sensitivity towards foreigners and I happen to be the only foreigner in the room. For people of different races, I assume this feeling is switched on practically all the time because now the differences aren't only felt during HR mandated meetings. And moreover, they're not differences that have any bearing on the person's contribution to the company (any more than my status as a foreigner does).

ericmay 5y ago
It’s kind of a case of the more you talk about how different something or someone is the more you kind of focus on the difference. At least seems that way.
hallway_monitor 5y ago
I don't understand it. I've never been in the minority where I live but this is how I imagine it feels being in a group that is being singled out for some reason or another. Every person is a completely unique individual and focusing on things like skin color just seem insane to me. Why not focus on the fact that we are 99.9% the same but have different experiences which make us valuable and interesting.
- ceilingcorner 5y ago
  Old tactic: divide and conquer. If people stopped bickering about race, they’d quickly realize their economic class similarities, leading to things like unionization. BigCo can’t allow this, for obvious reasons.
  - 7sidedmarble 5y ago
    It worries me that more of HN doesn't understand this.
CydeWeys 5y ago
You don't solve problems (or racism) by ignoring them, and your experience as a white person in another majority white country is not particularly informative on the experience of a black person in a country with the history of systematic enslavement of, disenfranchisement of, and discrimination against black people. A head in the sand approach isn't workable. It was the black employees themselves who were most vocal in arguing that the company should address race issues head-on, e.g. during the George Floyd protests last summer.
- cudgy 5y ago
  Interesting. Can you name a country that does not have a history of systematic enslavement? Perhaps the commenter is living in a Slavic country where whites were enslaved?
  - bradlys 5y ago
    Slavery is just one aspect. Almost no one in Slavic countries (afaik) complains about slavery affecting them to this day because - in all likelihood - probably somewhat difficult to tell who is descendant of slaves and who isn’t. Isn’t as difficult to tell in the US. And the policy that followed after the end of slavery wasn’t done to help those who had been slaves or were descendants of slaves… the policy tried to make them second or third rate citizens. So, the consequences of those things are still felt to this day and are very real. It’s why so many cities in the US are heavily segregated to this day. (Look at a racial dot map of Chicago)
    - cudgy 5y ago
      We are almost all descendants of slaves. The issue is not if … it’s when Your descendants were slaves. Not sure anyone can speak for all Slavic people. However, just because someone complains about something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen to others. Can you name a city in the world that doesn’t have some sort of racial, religious, economic or other form of segregation?
      - 5y ago
wonderwonder 5y ago
I work in a US company that has an African American VP of diversity and they regularly post in a diversity focused slack channel. The responses are 95% white people posting platitudes and saying how great the VP is. They do however force people being interviewed to answer on the spot diversity / anti racism questions that really almost no one is prepared for, forcing people to just make up answers to check a box. Seems forced.

ericmay 5y ago

It’s kind of a case of the more you talk about how different something or someone is the more you kind of focus on the difference. At least seems that way.

hallway_monitor 5y ago

I don't understand it. I've never been in the minority where I live but this is how I imagine it feels being in a group that is being singled out for some reason or another. Every person is a completely unique individual and focusing on things like skin color just seem insane to me. Why not focus on the fact that we are 99.9% the same but have different experiences which make us valuable and interesting.

ceilingcorner 5y ago
Old tactic: divide and conquer. If people stopped bickering about race, they’d quickly realize their economic class similarities, leading to things like unionization. BigCo can’t allow this, for obvious reasons.
- 7sidedmarble 5y ago
  It worries me that more of HN doesn't understand this.

CydeWeys 5y ago

You don't solve problems (or racism) by ignoring them, and your experience as a white person in another majority white country is not particularly informative on the experience of a black person in a country with the history of systematic enslavement of, disenfranchisement of, and discrimination against black people. A head in the sand approach isn't workable. It was the black employees themselves who were most vocal in arguing that the company should address race issues head-on, e.g. during the George Floyd protests last summer.

cudgy 5y ago
Interesting. Can you name a country that does not have a history of systematic enslavement? Perhaps the commenter is living in a Slavic country where whites were enslaved?
- bradlys 5y ago
  Slavery is just one aspect. Almost no one in Slavic countries (afaik) complains about slavery affecting them to this day because - in all likelihood - probably somewhat difficult to tell who is descendant of slaves and who isn’t. Isn’t as difficult to tell in the US. And the policy that followed after the end of slavery wasn’t done to help those who had been slaves or were descendants of slaves… the policy tried to make them second or third rate citizens. So, the consequences of those things are still felt to this day and are very real. It’s why so many cities in the US are heavily segregated to this day. (Look at a racial dot map of Chicago)
  - cudgy 5y ago
    We are almost all descendants of slaves. The issue is not if … it’s when Your descendants were slaves. Not sure anyone can speak for all Slavic people. However, just because someone complains about something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen to others. Can you name a city in the world that doesn’t have some sort of racial, religious, economic or other form of segregation?
    - 5y ago

wonderwonder 5y ago

I work in a US company that has an African American VP of diversity and they regularly post in a diversity focused slack channel. The responses are 95% white people posting platitudes and saying how great the VP is. They do however force people being interviewed to answer on the spot diversity / anti racism questions that really almost no one is prepared for, forcing people to just make up answers to check a box. Seems forced.