The United States is at an "inflection point" with "deep discord" among political and social groups, said Eddie Glaude Jr., author and chair of the Department of African American studies at Princeton University in Princeton, N.J.
Now "is a moment of such turmoil. It seems like the country is struggling to live up to its ideals," he told attendees at the SHRM Employment Law & Compliance Conference, which opened in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 26. "Americans are divided, and those divisions go well beyond ideological differences. They go to the marrow of the bone. Race shadows it all."
With companywide policies, affinity groups and workplace trainings, HR can be a bridge that draws together people from different races, religions and cultures. "We are so separated. We are walking mysteries to each other," Glaude said. "The folks who come into your workplace bring all that with them."
For many employees, work may be the only place where they interact with people who are different from them. People are interdependent, and "it is in the going towards [one another] that our salvation is to be found, not separating into our individual silos," Glaude noted.
He urged HR leaders to look introspectively at their own habits and how racism and injustice have manifested in their own workplaces. "Have an idea of justice without exceptions," he said, meaning that it is inclusive of everyone.
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