How Racism Shows Up at Work and the Antiracist Actions Your Organization Can Take

To understand racism at work, it is crucial to recognize that it is deeply embedded into organizational systems and structures. Therefore, combatting it means focusing on both the behavior of individuals who do and say racist things and the systems and structures that enable and even encourage the behavior in the first place.

In this report, we shine a spotlight on a key overarching structure that drives racism at work: White defaults1—or the underlying assumption that what employees should look and sound like, how people should carry themselves and interact with others, and whose skills are worthy and whose are not should follow historical White standards and habits. When people from marginalized racial and ethnic groups don’t conform to these defaults—and often they literally, physically, can’t—some people respond by carrying out racist acts to reinforce White cultural ideals.

Antiracist organizations and leaders must examine how White defaults—with racism as their cudgel—manifest in their organizations. With White defaults systemically embedded in policies, practices, and norms, leaders must take action to make a meaningful difference.

Author: Catalyst: Joy Ohm, Sheila Brassel, PhD, Britney Jacobs, MSFPsy, Emily Shaffer, PhD
Resource Type: Online Report / Article