Combatting Racism: A request for us all to do better
Dear Colleagues & Friends,
This letter is for supervisors, managers, executives and others that manage or oversee people. I request your help with racism on a very specific issue.
When an employee or a client makes a racial complaint, try making the process more transparent while still respecting privacy of the accuser and the accused. Allow me to share an occurrence which highlights the need for this request.
I recently had a negative experience with a driver at a ride-sharing company. I thought the driver refused me and another person a ride because we were black. I lodged a complaint (which you can read below, with redacted company and names).
The ride-sharing company was very respectful and is opening up an investigation. However, the investigator said that there will be no follow-up with me after the investigation is complete because of privacy issues. That’s not a good response when dealing with these types of racial strife and mistrust. We have to do better,
Some blacks (like me) are really frustrated and tired of providing documented complaints only to have our complaints go unresolved. I spent considerable time writing the letter below to then have the investigator tell me that there would be no follow-up. I can’t tell you the dozens of times that I’ve put forth documented complaints to never hear back from the company.
Companies should complete the investigation and then let the individual know in order to close the loop. Even if a company can’t say exactly what happened, they should say something.
I wrote this post today because many of you can directly impact transparency around racial complaints. I hope some of you will honor this request because it's these types of things that make a big difference in building trust during times of racial strife.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. No one expects perfection, just progress.
Bill Shelton
(the following letter was sent to the ride sharing company with name of CEO and the company redacted)
Dear [name of ceo]
Racism is a hot topic in America and I've decided to become even more diligent when confronted with it and believe I was subject to an act of perceived racism on Friday night (Oct. 9) in Fishers Indiana by a driver. I say perceived because I couldn’t read the [car service company] driver’s mind but as a 57 year old thick skinned black executive I have become pretty good at spotting racism. This was it.
Before sharing the specifics of this experience, I want to say that I love [car service company]. I am currently at the level and have used your company all over and this is the first time something like this happened. Now to share this occurrence.
Friday night started great. A group of us were celebrating the wedding of a CEO of a local company at Topgolf in Fishers, Indiana.
The event was wonderful thanks to a friend that is a senior executive at Topgolf. He called the facility, prior to the event, and you can verify with him, through is staff, that our group calm, well mannered executives having a good time.
The car I ordered at 9:30pm, that is the basis of this complaint, was a [wrote the name, make of car and license plate number]. The ride was for me and Justin Gatlin, the 2004Olympic gold medalist (100m) and 2017 IAAF 100m world champion. I needed a driver to take us back to our hotel in Indianapolis. For the record, Justin is also black.
When the car arrived, Justin and I walked down the steps to get into the car. Justin walked to the passenger side and I walked around to the drivers side. The driver locked the door when he saw Justin trying to get in. I was confused so I walked to the back of the car to double check the license number on my phone. It was correct. I thought it was just a mistake so I walked back to the driver's side to tell him that he was our driver. The driver opened his window and I said that he was not my driver. I was still confused and walked around to the back of the car again and checked the license plate.
With a smile on my face (still thinking it was just a mistake) I showed him the open car service app on my phone that showed his license plate. From his tone, I could tell it was something that was wrong and started getting a clue that it was personal.
I asked the name of his passenger and he hesitated and said "Tye" (sp?). My name is Bill. I showed him his license plate on my open app. He then said he cancelled because we were late. He hadn't said that until then and that's just not correct. I saw on his screen that he was going to pick someone else up that was 11 minutes away. He then drove off.
I was mad and called another driver from your company that was 14 minutes away. The next driver was wonderful but I wanted to lodge this complaint on the driver of the first driver that cancelled my ride
I’ve copied Justin on this letter so he can corroborate our experience .
I also share my linked in profile because sometimes my corporate successes are necessary to give legitimacy to a claim of racism and I want to reiterate that this has never happened before with your company.
I am still a loyal customer but hope you will address this matter.
Bill Shelton