Regis University COM400
Diversity
Ken: The stereotype that I really-- bothers me is when somebody thinks I'm a foreigner or from outside the U.S. They'll come up and say, Well, how long have you been in this country? It's like, Well, how long have you been? And it's-- The Asian immigrants are fairly new compared to some of the others in the U.S. And so they automatically think that I'm-- I'll say I'm Japanese-American. Oh, you came from Japan. When did you come over? It's like, No. My grandparents did. And so it's-- It's kind of an issue that people don't realize that I'm an American, and I'm here.
I've got an interesting story. I was traveling in business in Japan, and I was with one of my HR representatives. And we're in the area where all the Japanese electronics are. And he goes to me-- He goes, Wow, there's not too many Americans here. And I thought about it, and I thought, Okay. So, the next morning, we met one of our peers, and he was relating the story about we went to the Japanese electronics district. And he said the same thing: Well, you know, I couldn't see too many Americans. Finally, I looked at him, and it was like, What's an American look like? You know? I said, I'm an American. He looked at it, and he goes, Uh, white. It was interesting. This is coming from an HR professional that's supposed to learn and understand diversity. Right? And he brings that up.
Raymond: Well, it's interesting if we take a picture right here of the eight of you. This is America, a multicultural democracy. This is America right here. But the stereotype that people have about American is white male. They don't even include women - white male.