White guilt — again.
Ricky Lee Allen rlallen@unm.edu
Telephone: 505-277-7247
An invitation to a “diversity workshop” sent to Sandia Labs employees last week by labs management has drawn complaints because of its suggestion that white people are inherently racist.
“Recent studies suggest whites’ lack of awareness about other cultures has to do with whites’ commitment to maintaining higher social status, or ‘white privilege,’ ” the invitation said.
It also said whites “are likely to persist in racist behaviors unless persuaded to abolish the privileges they receive as members of the white race.”
Sandia staff received a dozen calls from employees upset about the wording, labs spokesman Michael Padilla said.
He said Sandia apologized to employees offended by the e-mail. But Sandia’s position is that it was not responsible for the wording and did not intend — by sending out the message — to imply that all whites are racist, Padilla said.
The e-mail, sent to employees as part of Sandia’s electronic daily news, encouraged labs workers to sign up for the 19th Annual Diversity Leadership Council Forum on Diversity. It summarized a talk on “white privilege” by University of New Mexico faculty member Ricky Lee Allen at the April 24 forum.
The text of the e-mail about Allen’s talk on “White Privilege and Diversity” was excerpted nearly verbatim from the flier and Web site on the diversity forum. It was not written by Sandia staff, Padilla said.
Over a weeklong period, Sandia management also sent out summaries of five other talks at the forum as part of an effort to encourage Sandia staff to attend, according to Padilla.
Sandia is one of the co-sponsors of the event at the Convention Center.
Sandia’s work force is 2 percent black, 21 percent Hispanic and 70 percent white, according to data provided by Padilla.
Allen’s talk is part of an all-day forum sponsored by the nonprofit Diversity Leadership Council. According to Padilla, the organization’s board includes representatives of Sandia, Public Service Company of New Mexico, the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque Public Schools, Mayor Martin Chavez’s office, the African American Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and ACCION New Mexico.
Allen and Leadership Council Chairman Charles Becknell did not respond to requests Tuesday for comment.
Allen, a professor in UNM’s College of Education, specializes in the study of race in education.