So you start a new job and have to watch one of those boring training videos. Okay, that’s nothing new. The Gorilla himself has had to do it in his past jungle life, and just about every legitimate company has one of these days. So, what if you sat down to watch the video with men and women of all races and religions- while on the television you watch a white, blue-collar worker, just like yourself, being shown as a racist among other things? Would you, the white guy, be offended or perhaps embarrassed by this portrayal? Sure, many people would.
One guy in particular, in Denver, Colorado, is now threatening to sue over it, as a matter of fact. It seems that the Denver Career Service Authority has made a little boo-boo of sorts and now people are up in arms over it. The Career Service Authority put out a training video, which shows “Billy,” a blue-collar worker, making racist and sexist jokes throughout the video. One of the workers who had to view the video as part of his training, says he was “extremely offended” by the video, which he says portrays all whites to be racist. The man is now threatening to pursue a lawsuit if the video is not suspended from further use.
Denver Councilman Charlie Brown- not to be mistaken for the Peanuts character- had this to say about the video after viewing it himself: “This is an insult and is extremely embarrassing for me to watch. It implies that it’s only white blue-collar workers who make these statements and that simply isn’t true.” (The recent verdict in the Isaiah Thomas case proved that.) He goes on to say “you’d think this was Birmingham, 40 years ago. It just isn’t.” He also said that Denver pays over a quarter of a million dollars a year on diversity management programs to address these issues and to prevent them. Stephen Viscuse, a workplace expert and writer, also blasted the video stating, “racism comes in all colors shapes and sizes.” He went on to say that it was “an excellent idea that was poorly executed.” And further explained that there should have been people of all races-men and women alike- shown in the video. (Most people would probably agree with that statement).
The Denver City Career Service Council has reportedly apologized and has suspended the video, stating that they are aware that it has “clearly struck a nerve.” Well, the Gorilla feels very strongly that people just don’t think these days, and it seems as if although they have good intentions initially, they end up sometimes going in the opposite direction; thus defeating the purpose of what they set out to do. The Gorilla agrees with Mr. Viscuse. The premise of the video was excellent. Racism of any kind should NEVER be allowed in the workplace, or frankly the world, but hey, one battle at a time! The workplace is a great place to instill good values and attitudes in people, but hey now, let’s get it right next time shall we?