Racial Interest Groups

[cparker]

I recently had a heated debate with a coworker about a new interest group our employer announced this morning. I discovered that I get extremely worked up over situations like this, and I thought I would share my thoughts with others.

This morning, my employer announced a Latino-specific advocacy group, run by employees and supported by some of the

Comments

[yardlong]

I agree with you. Special interest rights end up being at the expense of human rights, and as someone very concerned with human rights, I can't go along with things like that.

Being involved with market research, I am keenly aware that big businesses in our capitalistic system are very interested in immigrants and how best to market (exploit) them. Hispanics are the primary target group, and additionally, the ones that are most wanted are the ones that speak Spanish and little English.

[teraspawn]

I think this group needs to be examined in a wider context, considering the backdrop of racism in society and in employment. What about an advocacy group for women in your company? Would you assume that they were treating women preferentially, or just that they were attempting to make up for the disadvantages that sexism confers on women?

General Interest vs Special Interest

[cparker]

In my opinion, instead of an advocacy group for women, in order to truly foster the spirit of equality, a company should have a sexism awareness workshop (sexism against men exists, too), an "equality in the workplace" workshop, or something similar. Otherwise, the group would naturally have a bias toward [insert demographic here]'s rights and benefits.