DENVER—A diversity training video has drawn a complaint from a Denver city employee who claims its unfavorable portrayal of whites amounts to “institutional racism.”
The video titled, “Laughing Matters—Think About It,” features a white, blue-collar worker named Billy who’s portrayed as racist, sexist, and clueless while illustrating inappropriate humor.
“Diversity, to me, doesn’t mean hammer the white guy,” said Dennis Supple, a heating, ventilation and air conditioning mechanic who said he’s considering filing a lawsuit. “Diversity means you have respect for everyone, regardless of their race, their gender, their religion, their sexual orientation.”
City Councilman Charlie Brown said he’s also offended by the video and has written a letter to Mayor John Hickenlooper questioning the use of the video.
“The only thing left out was the white plumber’s crack when (the actor) bends over to work,” he said.
The 8-minute video was developed by the city’s Diversity Advisory Committee and the city’s cable channel. Kathy Maloney, a spokeswoman for the Career Service Authority, said the video is part of a one- to three-hour discussion that is moderated by a trainer, who is supposed to make clear that no one group is being targeted.
Maloney said Supple’s complaint would be taken into consideration when the video is updated in the next year or two.
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Information from: Rocky Mountain News,
