I work for the Government and my organization does not deal with immigration or refugee matters. However, it does create activities that aim at giving back to the local community. They orchestrate a back to school drive, can food drive, Angel Tree, Reading Day, Valentine cards to distribute at the Veteran Hospital, etc. The organization promotes different events for Black History Month, Asian Pacific Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, etc. Also, there is a Bellwood Bash day that the entire workforce can participate in together. They have different vendors there and they provide free lunch to majority of the workers if they get the ticket early. Other than that, there is no specific event or organization that brings the many cultures that make up the workforce together.
The surrounding community seems to be heavily populated with Hispanics. Our workforce is somewhat diverse with Caucasian , African-American and hispanic people; but I would only say about 20% are immigrants. In some aspects I see how the workforce is divided. People of different ethnicity barely participate in the race monthly activities if it isn’t their race. Some individuals have formed cliques with others of like characteristics within the organization. The problem with this is that we don’t understand each other and we don’t care to learn about others. I feel that if we took the time to gain knowledge of other cultures, it would help ease the communication barriers that occur majority of the time. Sometimes a person’s assertiveness can be mistaken for being combative. I deal with this often with my own supervisor. She is Caucasian and I am an African-American female. It is rumored that she does not like black people. I am giving her a benefit of a doubt , because I am not 100% whether or not it’s true. I must say that she does show strong signs of prejudice. However, I am a very opinionated person and I speak up when I don’t agree or if I have some expertise to bring to a situation. A lot of time she shuts me down and thinks that I am being combative when I speak out against something. I feel as if she sees me as the angry black woman with a nasty attitude! Contrary to her belief, I am just trying to prove that I have something to bring to the table. Now I have gotten to a point where I don’t really want to have a conversation with her. This is not a good look for our team and our work won’t get accomplished at this pace. To know me is to love me. If she took the time to listen to me we can make great things happen in our organization. Taking the time to know your neighbor can lead an organization to success.
What can be implemented in the organization to help others learn about each other? What will it look like? How can I get the workforce to participate?