Monday's Opening Thought: October 4, 2021

This week's opening thought: Can we all agree that companies and organizations need to throw their values statements in the bin? Like, who is working for a company living up to all of these values they've written up and placed on their company websites as performative public gestures laced with white supremacist workplace ideology and compliance? Any of us? How about your co-workers who place white supremacist workplace ideology up on a pedestal but love to trot out the company values when a person of color or marginalized person calls them in or out?

No company or organization is living up to these "values." Why? Because to live up to these values is to create an environment where white supremacy cannot thrive without dismantling itself and becoming something different and more inclusive – and we can't have that now, can we?

Companies need to start doing more than making a list of ideal values and posting them on their websites to regale and fool the public. Your values need to be codified into every aspect of your workplace culture and processes in tangible ways. Your leaders need to be held accountable for not utilizing your values in how they lead. And anyone who uses your company's values as weapons of oppression toward marginalized employees needs to be sent packing. I mean, if you're serious about your "values" having meaning and purpose and all that jazz.

P.S.: Make sure you throw your anti-racism and anti-discrimination policies in the same bin as your values statements because y'all ain't livin' up to those either.

I call 'em how I see 'em.