Narrator: A Black woman stands before her colleagues at a professional conference, sharing a painful and frustrating experience of racial microaggressions she endured in a remote work setting. She describes being on a Zoom call and having a coworker ask if her hair was real. The room is meant to be a space for understanding the unique challenges of marginalized employees. But during the break, a white woman named Karen approaches the moderator, Dr. Janice Gassam Asare. Karen, eager to connect, shares a story of her own. She recounts how, as a red-headed child visiting Mexico, locals were so fascinated by her hair they would often touch it without asking. She offers this story as a way to relate. But instead of creating a bridge of empathy, it builds a wall. The moderator is left internally frustrated, recognizing this as a classic, albeit unintentional, act of derailing and self-centering.

This subtle but powerful moment of conversational hijacking is at the heart of the problem explored in Dr. Janice Gassam Asare’s book, Decentering Whiteness in the Workplace. The book provides a direct and unflinching analysis of how actions and systems, both overt and unconscious, prioritize white culture, norms, and comfort, ultimately creating inequitable environments for everyone. It argues that true equity is impossible until we learn to first see, and then dismantle, this default setting.

Narrator: Before tackling workplace systems, the book establishes a critical foundation: race, and specifically whiteness, is not a biological reality but a social construct. Dr. Asare draws on historical analysis to show how the concept of "whiteness" was invented and evolved, particularly in the United States, as a tool to create and maintain a privileged class. It was an apparatus that had to be standardized before the premise of supremacy could follow.

A powerful historical example of this is the story of how Irish immigrants became white in America. In the 19th century, Irish Catholics arrived in the U.S. facing discrimination and competing with Black Americans for low-wage jobs. Initially, they were not considered "white" by the dominant Anglo-Saxon society. However, as historian Noel Ignatiev detailed, they learned that by adopting anti-Black attitudes and actively participating in the subjugation of Black people, they could gain access to the privileges of whiteness. By distancing themselves from Blackness, they were absorbed into the dominant racial group, reinforcing the very hierarchy that had initially marginalized them.

This history is crucial because it separates the systemic power of white supremacy from the behavior of white-centering. The book defines white-centering as any action that prioritizes, uplifts, and venerates white people and culture above others. While rooted in a system of supremacy, this behavior can be performed by anyone, regardless of their race, who has internalized the idea that white norms are the default standard. This distinction is vital, as it frames the work of decentering not as an attack on people, but as a necessary redesign of our behaviors and the systems they uphold.

Narrator: The journey to an equitable workplace begins at the front door: the hiring process. Dr. Asare argues that this is where white-centering is often most blatant, creating invisible barriers for racially marginalized candidates long before they even get an interview. This begins with the job posting itself, which can be filled with coded language, unnecessary requirements, and a preference for credentials from specific, often predominantly white, institutions. One story from the book describes a metro system where qualified candidates from underrepresented groups were consistently filtered out because job postings listed certifications that were not actually necessary to perform the job, acting as an artificial gatekeeper.

This bias is amplified by technology. Today, 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to screen resumes. These AI-driven systems, built and trained on existing data, often learn to replicate human biases, filtering out resumes with non-anglicized names or backgrounds that don't fit a traditional, white-centric career path.

Even when a candidate makes it to the interview, subjective criteria like "culture fit" become a tool for discrimination. The book recounts the experience of a hiring committee at a university. The committee, lacking a clear rubric, unanimously favored Jane Doe, a highly qualified East Asian candidate. However, the department head unilaterally chose to hire Mary Sue, a white candidate with less experience, without explanation. This decision reflected the university's 90% white faculty and a leader's unconscious bias toward someone who "fit" the existing mold. To combat this, Dr. Asare advocates for structured interviews, clear evaluation rubrics, and anonymized resume reviews to ensure decisions are based on competency, not comfort and conformity.

Narrator: Once inside an organization, employees encounter a new set of challenges: workplace policies that are presented as neutral but are designed around a white, Western default. Dr. Asare demonstrates how policies on everything from professionalism and appearance to leave and customer service can perpetuate inequity.

Appearance and hair policies have been a significant battleground. The book cites the case of Brittany Noble Jones, a Black newscaster who was told her natural hair was "unprofessional" and that she needed to "tame her fro." This reflects a standard of professionalism rooted in Eurocentric features. Similarly, bereavement leave policies often fail to account for diverse family structures. One story tells of Namitha Jacob, an Indian American employee who was denied leave for her uncle’s funeral because the company’s policy only recognized immediate family, ignoring the central role extended family plays in many cultures.

Customer service is another area where whiteness is centered. Dr. Asare shares her own experience working as a bank teller in rural Louisiana, where a white customer refused to be served by her because she was Black. Her manager dismissed the customer as "old-fashioned," effectively signaling that a racist customer’s comfort was more important than an employee’s dignity and safety. This reinforces the idea that the mantra "the customer is always right" can be harmful, especially when it protects discriminatory behavior and forces marginalized employees to absorb racial harm as part of their job.

Narrator: Beyond formal policies, white-centering thrives in the daily interactions that shape workplace culture. Dr. Asare explores how non-white employees are often silenced through subtle but powerful mechanisms. In meetings, their ideas may be ignored or interrupted, only to be praised when repeated by a white colleague. The author recounts her own experiences in faculty meetings as the only Black woman, where she was consistently talked over, rendering her invisible.

When racially marginalized employees do speak up about their experiences, they often face tone policing—being told they are too emotional or aggressive—or racial gaslighting, where their perception of a racist event is questioned and invalidated. These tactics shift the focus from the harm done to the reaction of the person harmed, protecting the status quo and the comfort of the majority.

This focus on white comfort extends even to the field of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) itself. The book reveals the startling statistic that 76% of Chief Diversity Officers are white. Dr. Asare describes how organizations often hire white-led DEI firms or prioritize the teachings of white anti-racism educators, implicitly valuing white expertise over the lived experience of people of color. This creates a paradox where the very work intended to dismantle inequity can end up recentering the dominant group, prioritizing white feelings and enlightenment over the liberation of those who are actually oppressed.

Narrator: So, how does an organization begin this work? Dr. Asare rejects the idea that simple empathy is the solution, arguing that empathy is often biased and can lead to the exploitation of trauma for the sake of white learning. Instead, she proposes a structured, three-step model: Awareness, Acknowledgment, and Accountability.

First, organizations must become aware of the problem by collecting disaggregated data and conducting qualitative research like focus groups to understand the specific experiences of their most marginalized employees. Second, they must acknowledge the harm done. The book points to public apologies from institutions like the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association for their historical roles in perpetuating racism as powerful examples of this step.

The final and most difficult step is accountability. This means moving beyond performative statements and implementing systemic change. Dr. Asare introduces the "curb-cut effect" as a guiding principle: when you design solutions for the most vulnerable, everyone benefits. Just as curb cuts in sidewalks, designed for wheelchair users, also help parents with strollers and delivery workers, workplace policies designed to support Black employees—who face the most pervasive forms of systemic harm—will inevitably create a more equitable environment for all. This requires investing in Black employees, centering their feedback, and holding leaders accountable for creating a culture where harm is not tolerated and equity is not just a buzzword, but a measurable reality.

Narrator: Ultimately, Decentering Whiteness in the Workplace delivers a powerful and urgent message: creating a truly equitable organization is not about adding more diverse faces to a flawed system. It is about fundamentally redesigning the system itself. The book’s most critical takeaway is that decentering whiteness requires a proactive and intentional shift from prioritizing white comfort to centering the needs and experiences of the most marginalized employees.

This work is not easy; it demands courage, humility, and a willingness to dismantle long-standing structures. But the challenge it leaves us with is both practical and profound: start by identifying one system in your own workplace—be it hiring, promotions, or daily meetings—and ask a simple question. If we were to rebuild this from the ground up to serve the person who feels the least seen and the least supported, what would we change? The answer to that question is the first step on the path to a workplace where everyone can truly thrive.