Do This Before Confronting Affirmative Action, Oluo 8/18

Chapter 7 of Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want to Talk About Race focuses on ideas and experiences surrounding affirmative action.

This awesome chapter has helped me consolidate a few ideas I’ve heard.

1. When [even marginally] progressive HR departments start anonymizing resumes, CVs and cover letters to impede unintended bias, we should fix all systemic hiring bias before we start attacking affirmative action.
2. When we can use actual data to support a variety of diversities in our organizations…at all levels!…we can start confronting the necessity of affirmative action.
3. If we feel an initial defensiveness about affirmative action when we just hear the words, we have some issues to work out. If the issues are, how are we as white/male/otherwise entitled, ever to get a fair chance at getting a good job if we are boxed out by affirmative action programs, begin by studying irony in the dictionary. You know that great adage: when you’re accustomed to entitlements, equality feels like oppression? Maybe it’s us.
4. If you believe in objective meritocracy, that’s a crutch for retaining entitlements. Please prove to me that objective meritocracy exists, with evidence.

Thank you very much. And read Oluo’s book!