Is Corporate America Infested with Racist Executives?

This past summer Barbara Fedida, Head of ABC News talent, was fired after an investigation concluded she used racial slurs about black journalists at the network, including Robin Roberts and Sunny Hestin. 

These types of remarks are part of a long pattern of insensitive statements made by Fedida, according to the sources who spoke with Huffington Post, who reported the story. 

The interesting question is, who let this culture thrive? The executive she reported to and peers she worked with heard these comments from her over the years. She reported to James Goldston, mentioned in a Huffington Post article that first reported on the story. The article also mentioned she had an ally at the company in Tanya Menton, SVP of Litigation, who has been with the company for over two decades. The essential question is, “who was complicit and enabled this type of toxic behavior”? 

Entertainment and media have a long history of anti-black racism while priding themselves on being an industry of liberals. Not to mention the racist content that has been released, you can also speak to many black professionals who have worked in these environments, and they will tell you the horror stories of mistreatment. 

Just this past year, we have heard about executives at Adidas, a company that has profited tremendously with the support and help of the black community, accused of racially insensitive statements. The question is, “how does this type of thinking affect hiring decisions and treatment of current black employees”?

Decisions are made every day in the corporate arena by whites that affect the lives of black people. The enablers of employees who engage in this type of behavior are where we should focus our efforts and hold them accountable. In an interview with CNBC, Mark Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner, said, “White people “need to speak up” and call out racism when they see it, whether it is from businesses or people in their lives.” He also said this is when you will see things start to change. Not a bad idea. The people who are closest to the racists have the most power to affect the needed change. I guess the question is, “Do “good” white people want to change the current status quo?”