Imagine the mental gymnastics that you have to do in order to believe that hiring exclusively based on the color of someone's skin isn't racist or a violation of civil rights.
That's not going to stop the Woke in the sports world though. Take a gander at what former NBA player and ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins had to say about the Minnesota Timberwolves hiring Chris Finch, a white dude:
"Here's the thing about hiring African American coaches, and this is why... African American coaches are not getting hired... is because in order for this to happen, we have to have more African Americans in the front office."
The implication here is that white guys are just hiring other white guys because of their relational connections (and the connection here between Chris Finch and the Wolves's Gersson Rosas does go way back), but Perkins argues that if we "equitize" the NBA administration, that black managers would choose "the guy that's best for the job."
To the indoctrinated ear, this doesn't sound totally bad. What's wrong about having more diversity in the workplace? Absolutely nothing!
The problem is forced diversity based on bitter assumptions that every hiring move is guided by racism and privilege, along with conclusions that a black person would make less discriminatory management decisions.
This is Perkins' own conclusion when he says that hiring more black administrators will lead to more black coaching hires.
Let me ask you: is that because African Americans or Latinos or Asians are better at making fair, unbiased, and logical staffing decisions? Or is it because said staffers would go out and hire more people that look like them at the exclusion of everyone else?
If it's the former, it's a blatantly racist premise. Flip that logic around: "Black people aren't as logical or unbiased as white people in hiring decisions." Sounds pretty dang bad.
If it's the latter, it undercuts the entire argument Perkins is making about white guys only hiring on personal connection and preference, because that's essentially what a more "diverse" head office would continue to do (oh, and it would also be racist).
Perkins isn't alone in his assumptions. A quick trip down the Twitter comment hole proves that.
But here's a simple idea for ya'll that we used to agree on, and that represents the only hope for equality and progress in any organization moving forward:
And if you're still having trouble getting it, consider going through this corporate training.
