Changing Perspectives... on Unintentional Racism

My name is Dorothy Tang, most of you know me as Dot. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, and came to Australia at age 18 to pursue my Bachelor’s degree.

Before you continue reading, I want you to pause and look around the office. How diverse is your team? I’m guessing not very. Because in my experience, I’m a bit of a rarity – a unicorn perhaps, for am I even real?

Be the invisible visible Asian
When I first started out in the media industry, I was shy and scared to share my opinions as I was the only ethnic person in the room. There were moments where I thought, can I just be invisible so no one will make eye contact with me?

I soon realised this was not a sustainable approach, so I pushed myself to step up. I started sharing work updates at team WIPs and bridged the cultural gap by sharing Asian food and other aspects of my culture with colleagues – yes, bribing adults with food works.

This small success prompted me to actively engage in the agency DE&I committee, where I, now the Visible Dot, share cultural insights and foster cultural exchange in the workplace.

Unintentional racism = racism = not okay
We need to stamp out all forms of racism – intentional and unintentional, including microaggressions and casual racism. Let me share my personal experience of this. 

t a previous workplace, my manager provided feedback on a presentation I did, telling me I should speak slower because I have an accent. In singling out my accent, the feedback was unintentionally (I hope) racist. This led to days of tears and self-doubt about my professional capabilities. It took two years of consistent practice and a NIDA corporate training course to restore my confidence.

Had the feedback been phrased differently – not singling out my accent and simply suggesting I speak slower in general – I would have never lost the confidence in the first place.

 

What might seem like a harmless comment to one person can have a huge impact on another. So I encourage us all to do the following to help feed cultural diversity in the media industry:

1. Maintain an open mind and think twice about how earnest feedback or comments can be construed as unintentionally racist.
2. If you’re from a culturally diverse background, don’t be invisible. Speak up if you experience feedback or comments that are unintentionally racist – don’t waste the 2.5% of your lifespan that I did.
3. Every individual should call out racism in the workplace (and beyond) when they witness it.

There are many champions in the industry joining the MFA’s mission to create a media agency industry where everyone can thrive, feel heard, supported and safe to do their best work. Make sure you check other inspiring stories in the Changing Perspectives series.