[.row][.column]The response gap between acknowledgement and action is short when it comes to BIPOC’s feeling welcomed in the ad industry.[.column][.row]
…The worst part was that everyone saw what was going on, and even commented on the situation, but no one stood up and said something.
Discrimination and non-inclusive practices in the workplace can manifest itself in many ways. Within an agency culture that claims to champion a welcoming and inclusive working environment, it can look more like a failure to call out subtle acts of discrimination or exclusionary policies vs. more obvious and egregious shows of racism or bigotry.
As ‘others’ in the industry, BIPOC’s have an acute antennae up for unwelcoming signals. When such acts are acknowledged by others yet fail to elicit an appropriate action, the BIPOC’s reoccurring question of ‘do I belong here?” is continuously answered. The ‘silence’ that follows, therefore, is experienced more as an overt support for these practices vs. simply a passive reaction by those who failed to act.
Allyship in this context would be an overt rejection this act. Not through a general acknowledgment or even shared disgust, but through a clear action that both calls out the situation and moves to have it addressed, in real time.
