ABSTRACT
In a Human Resources department, the majority of the employees at all levels were white. There was, however, one African American middle manager, a woman. For several months, she watched the people at the front counter helping employees who came in to ask questions. She thought she saw a pattern of their spending a longer time with white employees, asking more questions to get at the roots of their concerns, and responding in a more professional yet caring manner. With people of color they were rude and gave their concerns short shrift. One front-line person, in particular, stuck out to her. She tried to talk herself out of what she thought she thought she was noticing, telling herself she was being too sensitive. She asked her manager, a white woman, to take a look, was told that everything looked fine. Finally, at a management meeting at which employee raises were being discussed, she lost it. “How can you talk about giving these people raises? They treat people of color very differently that they treat white people. It’s just racist!” No one at the table spoke; there was quiet for about a minute, and then the meeting went on as if nothing had been said.
