Suspected Racists in the Corporate World get 2nd Chances
A 2018 article by Recode discussed how IAC rehired Justine Sacco, a communications executive, after being fired back in 2014 for an inappropriate tweet sent just before boarding a flight to South Africa. “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Sacco later said it was supposed to be satire or irony, but many people saw it as a cover. Of course, why should it be, since many cold-blooded racists often spill this type of rhetoric? This blatant racism and arrogance provide a window into the minds of those who work in corporate environments.
Sacco did this on social media and not in a work capacity, but we should be curious how this behavior spills over into employment. These types of things are usually not one-off situations, and they also affect the way employees make decisions, as in hiring capacity. How many subtle remarks and decisions have been made with this thinking in mind?
We have the example of the recent firing of ABC executive Barbara Fedida after an investigation found that she made racist statements about Black employees during contract negotiations. These statements uncover biases that can and often do translate to mistreatment on paper. With Barbara Fedida, the statements related to wages and part of the reason for the gaps that exist between Blacks and whites. This is at the top echelon of the corporate world, thinking about the harm at the corporate ladder’s lower tiers.
We can take the same analysis from the Central Park Karen incident where Amy Cooper, a white woman, called police on a Black birdwatcher after asking her to put a leash on her dog. Understanding the racial harm law enforcement perpetrates on Blacks in the US, particularly Black men, she weaponized her whiteness to counter the request. Amy was an executive at Franklin Templeton. This is the mindset of some people in key positions at major companies who make decisions every day that affect Black people’s livelihoods (i.e., hiring, promotions).
In the past, I worked at a venture-backed tech start-up company where a Black employee got called the n-word by another employee at a company party. The perpetrator was a top salesperson at the company. The management team tried to gauge the effects of the harm on the victim to see if he would allow the racist to stay on. They suspended the employee right away and did not fire him until three weeks later. That is how white supremacy works. The undue burden put on the victim to attempt to have a diplomatic solution to this activity shows that racism has a space in Corporate America. No matter the slur context, including that the incident was at a company event and others heard it, they should have had a no-nonsense policy against this type of behavior. At a small company, the investigation and decision should have only taken a few days. We need to stay vigilant in making sure people know there are serious consequences for participating in anti-Black mistreatment within business environments. Otherwise, it will never stop. Maya Angelou said it best, “When people show you who they are, believe them.” It appears that Justine Sacco is back with her old company in a more senior role. I guess time and an apology are needed to get a 2nd chance many others don’t receive.