{"id":1046,"date":"2024-03-17T18:57:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T18:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=1046"},"modified":"2026-06-29T14:09:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T14:09:15","slug":"diversity-training-gone-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/?p=1046","title":{"rendered":"Diversity training gone bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
\"Gif<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

I’ve been sitting on this blog post idea for awhile. But it’s St. Patrick’s Day and some good hearted self-deprecating humor has come before me. So while THIS story isn’t about being self-deprecating (I wish it was!), this story is about making fun of a culture.<\/p>\n

One of my very frequent job duties as a mid-level manager at a university was to translate directives that came from above down to the underlings.  Sometimes that was easy. Sometimes it was hard. Sometimes it was ridiculous.<\/p>\n

In one of those moments where I was in a discussion with my team about what to do about some new directive, near the end of the phone conference discussion, I rolled off the line “You’ve got to do, what you’ve got to do” a riff on “Then I’ve got to do, what I’ve got to do” from Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire when he’s quitting a job.  <\/p>\n

The line in the movie essentially says that sometimes when you are stuck between a rock and a hard place, you have to pick the right thing to do even when it isn’t easy<\/i>.  If you remember the scene, Robin Williams is mimicking Gandhi’s voice.  To me, it immediately conjured non-violent peaceful protest.  And it was the vibe I was leading with with my team. If we weren’t going to fully do the directive, we had our good reasons not to.<\/p>\n

After that meeting, one of my team members wanted to talk about that during our 1:1 private phone call. They proceeded to tell me that that line was, essentially racist, because I said it with the Indian accent. She told me that it was inappropriate. I started to get the idea that they were really serious about what they had said (and had totally missed the movie reference) when they stopped talking and let out a big “wow, that’s done” sigh.<\/p>\n

I was…flabbergasted.  I wasn’t quite sure where to start. I thought the line was actually complimentary. I mean, Gandhi is a person that humanity reveres. We aspire to be like him. He was a good man. How could mimicking his accent be slurring him?  It was a phone conference, I want to be clear on that point. I didn’t make any visible head shakes or any other references to Indian culture.  And the line itself is about facing a very important, difficult choice and still choosing to do the right thing. But I had a feeling that none of these finer points would help at this moment with the person.<\/p>\n

So I asked them a little bit more about WHAT exactly they found offensive. They quickly answered, “There were no Indians in the room.” <\/p>\n

Oh, I said, so it felt like I was mocking Indians with the accent?<\/p>\n

Yes, they said. When they are not in the room, you can’t do that.<\/p>\n

I moved quick on my mental feet.  <\/p>\n

So anyone using an accent of a person NOT in the room is offensive.<\/p>\n

Yes, they said. <\/p>\n

I explained that accents are part of communicating online and verbally on phone calls. I find that they enrich the story and add depth (and I’d used them– infrequently — with students in the past for years) especially when the accent adds depth to the story.  I find online teaching involves a great deal of performance and acting. But I kept at their point with them.<\/p>\n

So you are from the Boston area and there’s a pretty distinct accent there. If I had used a Boston accent, it would be OK because you were in the room?<\/p>\n

Yes, they said quickly.<\/p>\n

OK. At this point, I wrapped the discussion. I apologized that no offense was intended and indeed, I never used that accent with that group ever again.<\/p>\n

But I had the sudden and stark feeling that an attempted “schooling” had just happened to me by a person who attended Day 1, Hour 1 of diversity training and then no more training.<\/i><\/p>\n

You see, their second example actually showed what the problem was. <\/p>\n

You see, if accents are used derogatorily, it wouldn’t matter who or who was not in the room.  Bad form is simply bad form.
<\/b><\/p>\n

But in their own example, they privileged their own accent<\/u> as “OK to be made fun of” and I…actually…found that offensive. Boston isn’t where I’m from, but I do consider it a nearby city.<\/p>\n

So it’s NOT OK WITH ME to make fun of anyone’s accent.<\/b><\/p>\n

But I wasn’t making fun with my line. I was quoting Robin Williams who was quoting Gandhi. GANDHI.  That’s far from making fun or speaking derogatorily.  I went over this story with a lawyer friend afterwards just to make sure I wasn’t crazy and she reminded me of Gandhi’s human rights and lawyer background himself. His quotes are always about the betterment of people. It would be almost impossible to use a Gandhi quote in a slur. There just isn’t material.
 <\/p>\n

I would have a severe problem with anyone making fun of their Boston accent of anyone else’s accent in or out of the room. Their allowance that making fun of their own accent showed me that they didn’t understand diversity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

Sign. Bother. Face Palm.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Gif<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I never did quite “get along” with that team member after that and (shudder) they went on to train others.  I have no idea how well.<\/p>\n

But I’ll leave you with the context of the line, where an actor quits because a cartoon shows a bird smoking.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Police! Civic authorities! ASPCA! ASAP! <\/span><\/p>\n

***! Betrayal! Kidnapped! <\/span><\/p>\n

No, birdnapped! <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

A cup of garlic, a twist of parakeet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eat your heart out, Julia Child.<\/span> <\/p>\n

  Excuse me, but isn’t it customary<\/span><\/p>\n

for the jailbird to get one telephone call?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

In your case, I think not.<\/span><\/p>\n

Afternoon snacks have few civil liberties.<\/span><\/p>\n

But I’m not wholly without heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

How about a nice soothing cigarette?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Pah! Agh! Ugh!<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, I will not do this. I cannot!<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, what a foul way for a bird to die!<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t want to get beak cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

No! My lungs are blackened!<\/span> <\/p>\n

 Here we go again. Cut, cut, cut! Roll it back.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 – Help me…<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span><\/p>\n

What are you doing? Daniel…<\/span><\/p>\n

That line is not in the script.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why did you add it?<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span><\/p>\n

I wanted to comment on the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span><\/p>\n

What situation?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Shoving a cigarette into Pudgie’s mouth<\/span><\/p>\n

is morally irresponsible.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a cartoon,<\/span><\/p>\n

not a friggin’ Oprah Winfrey Special.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lou, millions of kids see this cartoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s like telling them “Light up.”<\/span> <\/p>\n

 You can’t put words in Pudgie’s mouth<\/span><\/p>\n

if his mouth isn’t moving.<\/span> <\/p>\n

 It’s voice-over. An interior monologue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe even the voice of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

(imperious voice)<\/span><\/p>\n

Pudgie, don’t smoke.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span><\/p>\n

Actors.<\/span><\/p>\n

– <\/span><\/p>\n

What? Let’s ask the technicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think it’s morally right<\/span><\/p>\n

to promote smoking to the youth of America?<\/span><\/p>\n

(whistles)<\/span><\/p>\n

They’re biased. That’s a mistrial.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Daniel, this session<\/span><\/p>\n

is costing the studio thousands.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want a paycheck, stick to the script.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you want to play Gandhi,<\/span><\/p>\n

then do it on somebody else’s time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>(as Gandhi)<\/span><\/p>\n

Then I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

That’s very funny.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where the hell are you goin’?<\/span><\/p>\n

If you leave, you’re not comin’ back in.<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m not takin’ any crap from you, pal.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/p>\n

Well, in the words of Porky Pig:<\/span><\/p>\n

P-P-P-P-P-P-*** off, Lou.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\nI’ve been sitting on this blog post idea for awhile. But it’s St. Patrick’s Day and some good hearted self-deprecating…\n<\/div>\n
Continue reading “Diversity training gone bad”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[324,425,323,17,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diversity","category-gone-wrong","category-inclusion","category-leadership","category-remote","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cogitateandpercolate.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}