ture, presentation and perception which do not match with or conform to expectation. But, worst of all, they will be judged on a spurious thing called 'merit'. This word is never used in association with White males but it is always a burden which minorities and other underrepresented groups have to carry. White workers automatically 'merit' a position or seem entitled to it without question. Minority ethnic staff, women and other underreIn the light of the racial and sexist comment by Don Imus, racism is obviously still alive and well in the wider society, especially the workplace. Imus was at work when he made those offensive comments, not in the privacy of his home. What must all the Black workers around him have felt on hearing his comments? And how do you deal with such open ethnic bias? Legal requirements might stem the tangible, open forms of racism, but they are useless against subversive discriminatory practices which have been woven into the fabric of working life: like bullying, put downs, poor assessments, lack of advancement, lack of fair conditions and proper training, negative labels and name calling, having to carry the burden of 'merit' and feeling isolated from the group. Those are common forms of 21st century racial discrimination.

Discrimination comes out of personal prejudice: simply having the power to put such prejudices into action by discriminating against others, whether openly or covertly. It begins from the recruitment stage. Human beings gravitate towards their own kind for validation, reinforcement, security and comfort. This is no different in the recruitment process. Put simply, we recruit in our own image and likeness. That is why many workplaces remain strongly monocultural, mainly reflecting one ethnic grouping. As the majority society sets the standards and has ownership of commerce, racial discrimination begins from the advert stage. From the moment the candidate's CV arrives in front of the interviewing gatekeeper, a minority person is being judged in a different way from their colleagues.

First, they will be judged on their name and ruled out; then if they make the interview, they will be judged on voice, personality, culture, presentation and perception which do not match with or conform to expectation. But, worst of all, they will be judged on a spurious thing called 'merit'. This word is never used in association with White males but it is always a burden which minorities and other underrepresented groups have to carry. White workers automatically 'merit' a position or seem entitled to it without question. Minority ethnic staff, women and other underrep

seless against subversive discriminatory practices which have been woven into the fabric of working life: like bullying, put downs, poor assessments, lack of advancement, lack of fair conditions and proper training, negative labels and name calling, having to carry the burden of 'merit' and feeling isolated from the group. Those are common forms of 21st century racial discrimination.

Discrimination comes out of personal prejudice: simply having the power to put such prejudices into action by discriminating against others, whether openly or covertly. It begins from the recruitment stage. Human beings gravitate towards their own kind for validation, reinforcement, security and comfort. This is no different in the recruitment process. Put simply, we recruit in our own image and likeness. That is why many workplaces remain strongly monocultural, mainly reflecting one ethnic grouping. As the majority society sets the standards and has ownership of commerce, racial discrimination begins from the advert stage. From the moment the candidate's CV arrives in front of the interviewing gatekeeper, a minority person is being judged in a different way from their colleagues.

First, they will be judged on their name and ruled out; then if they make the interview, they will be judged on voice, personality, culture, presentation and perception which do not match with or conform to expectation. But, worst of all, they will be judged on a spurious thing called 'merit'. This word is never used in association with White males but it is always a burden which minorities and other underrepresented groups have to carry. White workers automatically 'merit' a position or seem entitled to it without question. Minority ethnic staff, women and other underre

imply having the power to put such prejudices into action by discriminating against others, whether openly or covertly. It begins from the recruitment stage. Human beings gravitate towards their own kind for validation, reinforcement, security and comfort. This is no different in the recruitment process. Put simply, we recruit in our own image and likeness. That is why many workplaces remain strongly monocultural, mainly reflecting one ethnic grouping. As the majority society sets the standards and has ownership of commerce, racial discrimination begins from the advert stage. From the moment the candidate's CV arrives in front of the interviewing gatekeeper, a minority person is being judged in a different way from their colleagues.

First, they will be judged on their name and ruled out; then if they make the interview, they will be judged on voice, personality, culture, presentation and perception which do not match with or conform to expectation. But, worst of all, they will be judged on a spurious thing called 'merit'. This word is never used in association with White males but it is always a burden which minorities and other underrepresented groups have to carry. White workers automatically 'merit' a position or seem entitled to it without question. Minority ethnic staff, women and other underre

hnic grouping. As the majority society sets the standards and has ownership of commerce, racial discrimination begins from the advert stage. From the moment the candidate's CV arrives in front of the interviewing gatekeeper, a minority person is being judged in a different way from their colleagues.

First, they will be judged on their name and ruled out; then if they make the interview, they will be judged on voice, personality, culture, presentation and perception which do not match with or conform to expectation. But, worst of all, they will be judged on a spurious thing called 'merit'. This word is never used in association with White males but it is always a burden which minorities and other underrepresented groups have to carry. White workers automatically 'merit' a position or seem entitled to it without question. Minority ethnic staff, women and other underre

ture, presentation and perception which do not match with or conform to expectation. But, worst of all, they will be judged on a spurious thing called 'merit'. This word is never used in association with White males but it is always a burden which minorities and other underrepresented groups have to carry. White workers automatically 'merit' a position or seem entitled to it without question. Minority ethnic staff, women and other underrepresented groups, have to prove they 'merit' it, to justify their presence. At the same time, recruiters miss the supreme irony that, as we always recruit in our own image and likeness, many men are hired purely through their gender!

The Limiting Notion of Merit
The notion of 'merit' is precisely the way minorities are kept out and White males hang on to their power. They let in just the odd 'deserving' minority to give the impression of equality and fairness. He/She is then surreptitiously co-opted into helping to maintain the biased and discriminatory status quo through tokenistic merit rituals and the desire of the proud new appointee to justify their new role and to hang on it at any cost. The real tragedy is that so long as minorities carry the 'merit' concept like a millstone around their necks, they will always be perceived as second best, regardless of how good they think they are.

If the applicant is successful, he/she is likely to be given unpopular tasks, or tasks which might keep them busy but lack the status to attract coveted advancement. Like principals of colleges in Britain, only 4 are minorities out of over 400, yet 16% of students are minorities. This is mainly due to the fact that most minority teachers are given the kind of low status subjects which do not lead to promotion. Later on in the job, when the assessments are due, somehow the minority worker's productivity or approach will never be perceived to be quite up to standard. As most assessors will be from the majority group, who also hold the keys to scarce resources in such a competitive arena, minorities tend to lose out there most of all. That is why so many are on lower grades never seeming to be competent enough for supervisory or mana