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You’re standing around the water cooler chatting with your co-workers, and someone makes a racist (sexist, homophobic, or otherwise stereotype-based) joke. What do you do? Call him or her out on it and risk your work relationship? Don’t say a thing (and imply that it’s ok)? Over at the Brazen Careerist blog, race and culture consultant Carmen Van Kerckhove says:
My recommendation? Play dumb. Put on a bewildered expression, act as if you don’t understand the joke, and ask your co-worker to explain it to you. He will not be able to explain why the joke is funny without evoking a racist stereotype. You can then question the veracity of this stereotype, thus pointing out the racism of the joke, without being confrontational and without humiliating your co-worker. Racist jokes rely on an unspoken, shared knowledge of racist stereotypes. Without the stereotypes, there is no humor.
Everyone’s been in this uncomfortable situation before. How have you dealt with it? Tell us your advice in the comments, then hit the link below to see the rest of Van Kerckhove’s beyond-diversity-training tips on race at work.
Guest post: 5 new rules for dealing with race at work [Brazen Careerist]
