Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

Reverse discrimination (its in Wikipedia, it must be real), something to really get pissed off about…

We have a long history of profound dysfunction regarding race and gender and orientation and a bunch of other stuff in this country and a lot of that dysfunction continues to show up in our alleged “conversations” about these issues…conversations that generally accomplish very little because everyone is actually talking about something different and trying to say something without saying anything.

I had a great phone conversation this morning that reminded me of the importance of the basic building blocks with which we do things.  Words matter.  Language matters.  Clarity matters.  If we are interested in architecting organizations and communities that are better able to deliver on their promises, these are maybe our most powerful tools.   

I see and hear a lot being said about “reverse discrimination” these days.  It almost always starts with a happy and shiny disclaimer like this: Don’t get me wrong, I love diversity/inclusion/culture, I have been an advocate for “helping the less fortunate” for as long as I can remember, but..  When I read or hear stuff like that, I usually start to get a little scratchy about what is coming next, which often times is a complaint…. a complaint about “them” …whoever “them” might be in this particular instance.  “Why do they (fill in the blank)…?”  This itself is a little bias bubbling to the surface as we lump an entire group of people together, but I will leave that alone for now.

I do not know what in the hell reverse discrimination actually means.  I generally have a pretty good idea what people are talking about when using that phrase, but the words themselves don’t seem to be accurate for what is meant…maybe I am just missing something that everyone else gets.  Generally when people talk to me about reverse discrimination, they are talking about a special kind of discrimination that they really have a problem with…discrimination (perceived or otherwise) towards a particular group that they belong to.  You know, the really bad kind.

This is how I define discrimination (and how the dictionary defines it): treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.  I don’t know how “reverse discrimination” came to be the code word for discrimination against white men, but in my book discrimination is discrimination is discrimination.

To me, discrimination is fairly straight foward…and so is being against discrimination.  You are either proactively against discrimination or you are not…whoever it is directed towards.  Taking discrimination seriously only when it is directed towards you or a group that you belong to you is fine, but it is just called “looking out for you and yours” rather than fighting discrimination.  Mind you, the choice is yours…you do not have to be against discrimination.  Either way, just be honest about it. Own it.  Don’t cloak your true feelings in a bunch of cheesy rambling about your love for diversity and harmony.

Nearly all social groups (communities, organizations, societies) have conformist and hierarchical tendencies.  This dynamic works against groups in the minority, and even if you remove all conscious, deliberate discrimination from the equation, you still end up with sytems that have some bias cooked in. Doing something proactively to reduce the limitations on groups in the minority (limitations which are about their minority group, class, or category membership, not individual merit) is not “reverse discrimination” towards those in the majority…it is rather, about increasing the the chances that everyone actually be considered on their individual merit, which benefits everyone…everyone that truly wants that at least. 

Be good to each other.