REBOOT: The Foxes and the Henhouse

Hello {{ first name | friends}},

It's time for the monthly article surfaced from the archives. This article originally went out to paid subscribers, and was one of the most popular articles the year it was published. I'm re-releasing it for free. Though this referred to an actual incident, I think it's very relevant now, when there are so many examples of people who despise a thing being put in charge of it (say, a department looking after justice, a policy favouring people of limited economic means, an office responsible for health or the environment, to name a few examples off the top of my head).

If some foxes investigate other foxes who wreaked havoc in the henhouse, what are the chances that they’ll find those foxes guilty? Isn’t it more likely that they’ll try to gaslight the hens into thinking they were squawking about nothing? I think it is. [2025 update: is this a good time to mention 47 "exonerating" the January 6th traitors?]

Of course, I’m not really talking about foxes and hens, but about white* people with their own agenda investigating other white people, also with their own agenda, in relation to a complaint about racism from a Black* woman. This happened to me, and after a process that lasted a couple of weeks, I was coldly and dismissively gaslit by the human resources company (and therefore indirectly by the main company) about what had happened. [2025 update: I am not the only one this has happened to - there are examples all the time, if you're paying attention.]

As I’ve said many times before, Black people know a hell of a lot about racism, based on decades of experience. White people, not so much. So when white people are in charge of investigating racism, they may not see it due (at best) to lack of experience or knowledge. In this situation as a white person, it’s crucial to know what you don’t know.

What’s potentially worse is that they may be aware of it but want to minimise the harm done because they think we’re “beyond all that” and “living in a post-racial society”, which we most certainly aren’t. [2025 update: there's so much evidence for this I hardly know where to begin, but note, for example, that Project 2025 disproportionately targets Black, Brown and Global Majority people.]

Or they may want to protect the white person involved at the expense of the Black person who was harmed. This last one happens a LOT.

Some people also want to think they are such “good humans” that they couldn’t possibly be racist. Sadly, that’s not true, either. Unlearning the lessons of white supremacy takes consistent, daily work for all of us, and most of us make plenty of mistakes as we do so. That means even “good humans” can exhibit racist behaviour, and need to be accountable for it.

One of the interesting things about this situation was the presence of a Brown woman on the investigation team. It feels like her role was to avoid the appearance of bias, but I can’t say I was fooled. In fact, my worst fears about the human resources company covering its own backside were realized. Plus it turned out that when it comes to accountability from the person at the top of the company, the anti-racism policy can easily be set aside. [2025 update: that company is no more.]

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As a Black woman who has faced racism in the workplace before, what I’m mostly looking for in this situation is for the people investigating to recognise that when I call something racism, it IS racism, whether they can see it or not. I’m not given to frivolous complaints, and I’m certainly not looking to find extra racism where none exists. (Who needs that?) If I see it, and I name it, it’s there.

So it’s exquisitely painful, in a way only my fellow people facing isms will understand, to be told that “there is no merit in your allegation of racism”. [2025 update: yes, I'm still salty about this!]

I get it: upholding my complaint would mean some sort of accountability and reparations, and they were afraid of where that might lead. Since they chose not to support me, maybe they should be. Every Black and Brown person who knows about this can immediately see the racism, so it’s not just my imagination. Everyone who knows the context can see the racism, so it’s not just my imagination. Every white ally and accomplice who knows about it can see it, so it’s not just my imagination.

There’s a stat somewhere that says that a satisfied customer will tell 9 people, but a dissatisfied customer will tell 25. And someone who’s experienced racism but had her complaint dismissed might choose to tell her audience of tens of thousands, and she’d be justified in doing so, don’t you think?

So what does this mean for you? As I’ve said so many times before, as a white anti-racist, it’s important to know what you don’t know. And it’s important to take the word of those who do know.

So the next time your Black or Brown colleagues say they have experienced racism, don’t do what the human resources company did. Default to believing your colleagues and supporting them instead. And make sure that there are some Black and Brown people whose voices carry weight (rather than being tokens) on the investigative committee. That may help to make the process fairer.

Finally, if your company doesn’t already have an anti-racism policy create one. Then ensure that everyone in the company is bound by its provisions to make the workplace safer.

[2025 update: I am gutted that many of my friends and colleagues in the US are seeing their protections dismantled. And though it's not happening in the UK yet, even in that country, there ARE people who would like to see less focus on diversity, equity and inclusion - and more focus on meeting the needs of cis white men, as if they hadn't been getting their needs met for centuries.]

Thanks for reading my perspective,

Sharon

*"Race" isn't real; racism is very real, harmful and painful.

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I am an anti-racism educator and activist, the author of “I’m Tired of Racism”, and co-host of The Introvert Sisters podcast.

© Sharon Hurley Hall, 2022, 2025. All Rights Reserved. This newsletter is published on beehiiv (affiliate link).