Coca-Cola faces backlash for "be less white" learning plan about workplace inclusion

The Coca-Cola company is facing a bunch of online backlash after being accused of "anti-white" rhetoric when some random internal whistleblower was showing screenshots of a diversity training they found. The screenshots allegedly suggested that staff "try to be less white" according to Newsweek.

On Friday, Karlyn Borysenko, an activist who supports banning critical race theory, shared images from an internal whistleblower of the company's online racism training. The slides included tips to learners on how to be "less white, less arrogant, less certain, less defensive, less ignorant and more humble."

"In the U.S. and other Western nations, white people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white," one of the slides read. "Research shows that by age 3 to 4, children understand that it is better to be white."

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Well holy Toledo. That is really odd.

Coca-Cola released a short statement about it.

The statement said:

The video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning series and is not a focus of our company's curriculum. Our Better Together global learning curriculum is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace. It is comprised of a number of short vignettes, each a few minutes long. The training includes access to LinkedIn Learning on a variety of topics, including on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We will continue to refine this curriculum.

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A Coca-Cola spokesperson basically confirmed that this is just "part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace." They also stated that "the video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning series and is not a focus of our company's curriculum."

The company did not confirm or deny that any employees are required to take these course, but mostly that it's just available online for the public.

So.... is there where we start with the memes? Because honestly, that's all I am here for.

Just for anyone out there, this funny picture of the polar bear suggesting he was fired for being white is just a joke. It is not real. The polar bear may not even be named Ted and it's just for humor purposes. There's my statement on it for anyone who doesn't grasp what a meme is.



Photo: Flikr