I am saying NO to Racism - Can you Share?

This is a copy of a an article I posted to LinkedIn today. I would also like to record it on my blog. Because our volunteers matter. Because Respect matters. If you come across this article - please share the shit out of it! 

LinkedIn is not a forum for political debate and neither should it be. There is enough debate on Social media today, much of it very divisive. And hurtful.

But this post does concern the workplace and the people who work or volunteer for you. After a recent speech in the Australian parliament where a senator spoke of a “final Solution” and denigrated people of the Muslim faith my mind cast back to when I was living and working in London. Back then the IRA were active and an Irish accent was viewed with suspicion.  Many Irish were falsely detained and imprisoned. There was an atmosphere of fear and distrust and I felt it. Had someone back then said “Not all Irish are terrorists but all terrorists are Irish.” I would have been dismayed and scared.

I have managed many volunteer programs which had people of the Muslim faith in the team as well as Christians, Hindus, Buddhist, others and those of no faith.   Your faith never made a difference. You were a volunteer and your service made a difference.

The Senate speech has been roundly and rightly condemned by most people. Not all but most. Today my heart and my thoughts go out to those wonderful people I have had the privilege of meeting from different background and different religions.  I hope they feel supported in their work places this week.

I hope that our organisations are caring enough to know that this very public debate may be hurting some among our people, our staff and our volunteers. Because right now they need our support more than ever.

I find myself blessed to live in a multicultural Australia and I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land. I acknowledge too that we will have our differences but everyone in our workplace deserves respect and I hope today we give thought to some humanitarian principles that can unite us all.