Home Depot is telling staff to check their privilege at the door if they are white, male, Christian, and heterosexual.
In pictures from a Calgary Home Depot staff room circulating Twitter, the “Leading Practices: Unpacking Privilege” policy strives to shame staffers for their “white privilege” which Home Depot defines as “societal privileges that benefit white people beyond what is commonly experienced by people of colour under the same social, political, and economic circumstances.”
The Western Standard has reached out to both the Canadian and US corporate Home Depot offices to discuss the policy and its origins, but has not heard back.
The policy encourages staff members to talk with each other about their “white privilege” and explains “the word ‘white’ creates discomfort especially when individuals are not used to being defined or described by their race.”
The original tweet was retweeted by Dr. Jordan Peterson with his own commentary.
The leading practices tells staffers “if you’re confident the police exist to protect you, you have white privilege.”
“If while growing up, college was an expectation of you, not a dream, you have class privilege.”
“If you can expect time off from work to celebrate your religious holidays, you have Christian privilege.”
“If you can use public bathrooms without stares, fear or anxiety, you have cisgender privilege.”
“If you don’t have to worry about how to get into a store, you have able-bodied privilege.”
“If you don’t have to explain that your spouse is of the same gender, you have heterosexual privilege.”
The policy includes a checkmark list for checking your privilege: “white, male, class, Christian, cisgender, able-bodied, and heterosexual.”
According to the policy, racism equals racial prejudice, plus power.
“Racial prejudice is a set of discriminatory or derogatory attitudes based on assumptions coming from preconceptions about race/skin colour,” continued the policy.
“Power is the authority granted through social structures and conventions as well as the access to means of communications and resources. This can include authority, privilege, influence, popularity, aggression/threat, etc.”
