Race is never an easy topic to discuss, but a Home Depot in Canada took race education to a new level.
Home Depot has come under fire for what seems to be an odd way of attempting to ensure a healthy work environment. On March 23, reports exploded online that a Home Depot in Calgary, Alberta printed out fliers, complete with a checklist to distribute to employees throughout the workplace.
What about this checklist that has folks outraged? For starters, these fliers were never approved by the company. The US spokeswoman for The Home Depot told The Post that the message that was passed around was not part of any “required” training.
“While we fully support diversity across our company, this material was not created or approved by our corporate diversity, equity and inclusion department. This was a resource in our Canadian division and not part of any required programming.”
Aside from this location taking it upon themselves to create a new set of company rules, they titled this memo, “Leading Practices — Unpacking privilege.”
It is alleged that employees were told that the word “white,” in regards to race, causes discomfort and that the flyer also stated, ““If you can expect time off from work to celebrate your religious holidays, you have Christian privilege.”
Of course, with news of this spreading, you can bet that Twitter was having a field day with the topic drawing mixed reviews. One user said, “If Home Depot’s training guide offends you, you’re the reason why it’s needed.”
Another user chimed in saying, “Allegedly from a “My Apron” training at Home Depot. They say being “Christian” or “white” is privileged. This is outright prejudice, racism, and discrimination.”
According to The New York Post, it was not immediately known whether or not employees of the Canadian location had to fill out the privilege forms and turn them in to management.