THE NEED FOR RACIAL EQUITY

• (Relevant for Sociology Syllabus: Paper 1 – Stratification and Mobility)
• (Relevant for GS Syllabus: Paper1- poverty and developmental issues.)

• Racism has been prevalent in the world for a long time now. The world had been impartial to specific sections of society. This situation even though it has become less intense in the current times, racial inequity still exists to an extent even today.
• It has been seen mainly in workspaces in the form of biased opinions about people from particular racial groups. Due to this attitude of people towards them, they tend to deny certain opportunities to these specific sections despite being eligible.
• In some cases, these people have been made feel uncomfortable by the behaviours and language used against them.
• A recent keyword by Google CEO, Sundar Pichai stated the various commitments announced by Google to maintain racial equity within their workspaces. The organization is working towards increasing representation of specific groups in the upper management to 30% by 2025.
• They are also focusing on increasing hiring and retention among the people within these groups. Google is also working on creating a sense of belonging, particularly for these groups and rising spending on the well being, mental and physical health of these groups.
• Some other commitments made by Google include financing small businesses owned and run by people from these communities, funding in firms led by these people and working on their education and training them to help them develop a skill set.
• To maintain racial equity within an organization, the people in it have to start by paying keen attention to the words they use. Words are powerful and can bring about both positive and negative impacts.
• The upper management can enforce strict rules against the use of derogatory language aimed towards the marginalized. The organizations should have leaders who champion racial equity.
• Similarly, the upper management should promote people with unbiased attitudes towards people of all races to leadership positions. Only then can the desired policies be implemented to establish racial equity within the organization. Here, we can take the example of Alex Ohanian, who stepped down from the company he co-founded, Reddit to have a black candidate take up his position.
• Organizations can display how racial equity is imperative to their values, vision and strategy. To achieve this, the organizations can carry out specific training programs under the guidance of dedicated consultants who can stay associated with the company either for an initial period to help them devise policies or for a long term basis.
• Another effective way is to initiate a dialogue among co-workers about racial equity at work. A workspace will reflect diversity when it has a representation of people from various ethnicities and races. It will create a sense of belonging among the people and value the skills and contribution of each and everyone present there.
• The people in an organization need to see precise data about the gaps in the implementation of racial equity to give them a clear picture of their current status and what they further need to work on.
• The words we speak, say much about our attitudes and behaviours. So, in short, our words are influenced by our attitudes. However, if we decide not to use words containing racist comments and practice the use of those words that will make people of all races around us comfortable, we may ourself tend to change our mindset towards them.
• As a result, people from all races and ethnicities will indulge in a dialogue with each other, thereby helping them notice the good in each one of them. Organization leaders have a vision and set the company moving towards a particular direction.
• In that process, they do everything aligned towards helping their company move in the desired direction. So, if a leader or those from the upper management levels are champions of racial equity, they may include racial equity as a part of their vision, thereby implementing policies accordingly.
• Thus, the organization will come out as diverse, where every person’s voice has equal importance, and their contribution is equally acknowledged. As a result, the company may be able to attract talent from diverse races which otherwise would not have been possible if racial equity was not a part of their values and vision.
• The training programmes will work only if the employees are willing to take it seriously. One way to obtain this desired seriousness is to evaluate the employees based on their performance in these programmes.
• After the end of the programme, the employees shall be continuously monitored so that they persistently follow the instructions highlighted in the programme until there is a permanent change in their attitudes towards people from other races.