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Most employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups have experienced racism in the workplace

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As companies worldwide face opposition to their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, two-thirds (66%) of employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States have experienced racism at work during their career, according to a new global report from Catalyst. Half (52%) have experienced racism in their current job.

The report, How Racism Shows Up at Work—And the Antiracist Actions Your Organization Can Take, surveyed more than 5,000 women, men, transgender, and nonbinary employees and reveals the pervasive and insidious ways racism exists in the workplace. The most common expressions of racism are workplace harassment (48%)—such as racist jokes, slurs, and other derogatory comments—and employment and professional inequities (32%), where respondents experienced pay gaps, were passed over for promotion or were assigned more or less work than their colleagues based on race.

“Our findings show that racism in the workplace is deeply embedded, often flying under the radar in the form of offhand comments or other exclusionary behaviors,” said Lorraine Hariton, president and CEO of Catalyst. “It’s imperative that leaders at every level of an organization act to combat racism and build antiracist workplaces, address racist and discriminatory incidents, and create environments of physical and psychological safety that enable employees to report racist experiences.”

Participants also report experiencing racism in the form of racial stereotypes and degrading commentary about their bodies or cultures. Stereotypes include assumptions about a person’s intelligence, cleanliness, or language abilities, as well as blame for Covid-19. Women (51%) and men (50%) experienced racism in the workplace to the same degree. Trans and nonbinary employees experienced more racism than others (69%).

Who Perpetuates Racism in the Workplace?

Respondents most often named leaders (41%) as the instigators of racism, but co-workers (36%) and customers/clients (23%) also engage in racist acts. Women and men are equally likely to initiate acts of racism; however, trans and nonbinary people were never cited in the survey responses as the instigators of racist acts.

Four out of five acts of racism are initiated by white people, and one out of five are instigated by another non-white person.

Whiteness Is the Norm at Work

Studies show that whiteness is at the center of work contexts. It is used as a lens through which employees, organizational policies, and business strategies are judged, assessed, and valued. This can result in, for example, dress codes that don’t work for natural Black hair or performance assessment criteria that value white modes of leadership over others.

“When whiteness is the default at work, people from marginalized racial and ethnic groups are pressured to conform to white standards of leadership, presentation, and self-expression,” said Joy Ohm, Vice President, Knowledge Architect and Writer at Catalyst. “Our research shows that racism is a lever that leaders, colleagues, and customers pull to apply this pressure and maintain the status quo.”

The post Most employees from marginalized racial and ethnic groups have experienced racism in the workplace appeared first on New York Amsterdam News.

* This article was originally published here

This downtown bar is a “tropical hellscape” of food and drinks

This downtown bar is a “tropical hellscape” of food and drinks

Restaurants and bars open at an incredible rate in New York City, reception ranging on a scale from “okay?” to “wowie zowie.” Will the public be moved by yet another boîte billed as a love letter to something or other that turns out to be affection for profit alone? Actually, sometimes yes. But folks really take notice when a place premieres with some pomp, pageantry and pizzazz.  

Paradise Lost, which opens Friday, October 13 in the East Village, is billed in a press release as “a campy, transportive experience that takes guests to a tropical “hellscape,”” with a space that “elicits a sinister escapism.”  

But wait, there’s more—including an invented backstory that somewhat borrows from Milton’s epic poem by the same name, like a fable that the bar “exists in a cosmic plane known as “The Abyss”.” Where Milton’s Abyss was, of course, famously visited by Satan, this one’s “inhabited with unique characters,” with drinks and design elements intended to engage guests with this fiction. 

Some of those narrative-pushing fixtures number an eight-foot altar, oversized bat taxidermy (head only), a white fur interior door and snakeskin banquettes. There is also a lighting arrangement that changes when you order select cocktails. 

Paradise Lost bar
Photograph: Courtesy of Noah Fecks

Takes on “tiki-inspired and tropical” tipples are ominously monikered, like the archfiend, (jalapeño-infused tequila, makrut leaf-infused mezcal, galangal agave syrup, lime cordial, hibiscus syrup, hellfire bitters), the classic and threateningly-termed cobra’s fang (blend of rums, Fassionola syrup, lime, orange, absinthe) and the piña colada-like Beelz’s road soda, which sure sounds like it’s named for Beelzebub, who, in Milton’s Paradise, is not one with Satan, but rather, just a friend. 

Snacks include topically titled mezu musubi, damned dumplings and somewhat less excitingly labeled sticky ribs, but I guess you can imagine they’re from devils or something. 

The menu further incorporates surf imagery, and a proprietors’ note that reads, in part, “We would like to acknowledge the legacy of tiki is one built on cultural appropriation and erasure and would like to state firmly that we are dedicated to creating a new experience built upon respect for all cultures and peoples.”

Paradise Lost at 100 2nd Avenue will be open daily from 5pm-2am beginning Friday, October 13.

* This article was originally published here

Inside the Museum of Jewish Heritage’s first Holocaust exhibition for children

Inside the Museum of Jewish Heritage's first Holocaust exhibition for children

When Jack Kliger, President & CEO of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in Battery Park City, and his team started working on a new kid-friendly exhibit about the Holocaust almost four years ago, they could not have imagined the chaotic world order that the show was eventually going to premiere in.

Museum of Jewish Heritage Courage to Act exhibit
Photograph: Courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Heritage

Courage to Act: Rescue in Denmark” tells the story of the Danish Rescue, when citizens of the European country came together to usher nearly 7,000 Jews to safety and away from concentration camps during World War II.

The show opens this Sunday, October 15, a week and a day after over 1,000 Israeli Jews were slaughtered, murdered and raped by Hamas militants in a surprise terrorist attack that has been referred to as “the 9/11 of Israel” by many outlets. 

Pleas to “never forget” what happened during World War II have defined conversations about how to prevent another Holocaust for decades but the latest images out of the Middle East, and the social media discourse surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, paint a scary picture and make a few things clear: humans are capable of acts of inhumanity and antisemitism is still palpable around the world.

Museum of Jewish Heritage Courage to Act exhibit
Photograph: Courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Heritage

The timeliness of the show is therefore not lost on Kliger. 

“Because of what happened in Israel on October 7, we feel that our mission is important more than ever to execute,” he says.

When asked about the inspiration behind the exhibit and the decision to cater it to a younger set, Kliger mentions a three-part process. 

“One of our board members had just seen an exhibit about the Holocaust in England specifically targeted to young people,” he explains.

At the time, Kliger himself became the head of the institution and found out about the existence of “an amazing artifact:” one of the actual rescue boats that the Danes used in the mission. 

Museum of Jewish Heritage Courage to Act exhibit
Photograph: Courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Heritage

“It was donated by the Danish but it wasn’t our property,” he remembers. “It was somewhere where it could be properly maintained and I thought that it would make a great subject for us to talk about. Specifically looking at what people could do and not at what they didn’t do. “

Author Lois Lowry’s historical fiction book for children about the escape of a family of Jews from Copenhagen during World War II, Number the Stars, also spurred the museum to select this specific topic as the subject of an exhibit for elementary-age students. 

We hope to help that particular age group make moral choices and teach them that this was a collective action by the entire nation that showed the difference between being upstanding and being bystanding.

Although, traditionally, American schools have been teaching about the Holocaust beginning high school, Kliger believes that the world has changed, kids have “evolved and gotten smarter” and are therefore able to grasp key lessons before heading to ninth grade.

“We hope to help that particular age group make moral choices and teach them that this was a collective action by the entire nation that showed the difference between being upstanding and being bystanding,” he says before delving into the specific ways they’ve shaped the show on offer given its target audience.

Museum of Jewish Heritage Courage to Act exhibit
Photograph: Courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Heritage

In addition to consulting with witnesses, historians and researchers, the museum also invited young kids in while the exhibition was still in development, asking them how they felt about seeing it. 

On a technical level, the design was created by a company called Local Projects that also used Discovery Walls to allow visitors to immerse themselves into 1943 through audio, photo and video props. Holographic narrators and animation systems are also employed.

As a result of that research, “Courage to Act” focuses on themes of separation, bravery and resilience, specifically commenting on the dangers of prejudice and the importance of collective action. 

Museum of Jewish Heritage Courage to Act exhibit
Photograph: Courtesy of the Museum of Jewish Heritage

Although telling the story of a town in Europe, Kliger believes that setting up the exhibit in New York will be part of its draw, given the museum’s proximity to the Statue of Liberty and what that landmark represents when it comes to immigration, representation and remembrance.

As the number of Holocaust survivors still with us today diminishes and acts of antisemitism increase, the presence of an institution entirely dedicated to stories like that of the Danes becomes even more essential.

“We need to be here when, in the future, the survivors are not able to speak for themselves,” says Kliger. “That is a moral imperative for us that wasn’t the same 25 years ago.” 

I pledge to each and every survivor that I meet that there will always be a place where their grandchildren’s grandchildren can come to learn about their story. I intend to fulfill that pledge forever.

That mission, of course, has not come without backlash: throughout the years, the institution has had to deal with acts of aggression big and small, including an incident during which people wrapped the Confederate flag on the front door of the museum. 

But that has never deterred Kliger and his team, who seem entirely dedicated to the task at hand. 

“I pledge to each and every survivor that I meet that there will always be a place where their grandchildren’s grandchildren can come to learn about their story,” he says. “I intend to fulfill that pledge forever.” 

* This article was originally published here