The leader of diversity and inclusion efforts for the world’s largest employer finds one group too often left out of the conversation, largely because they fear they’ll do or say the wrong thing.
“White men want to help, but they don’t know how,” Ben Hasan told the crowd at the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga’s Equal Opportunity Day breakfast on Friday morning. “Grant them the grace to help. Let them make the mistake.”
As voices at the extreme ends of the political spectrum become the loudest, the fear of doing or saying the wrong thing gets in the way of progress, Hasan said.
“I think most human beings want to be decent to each other,” he said. “We hear so much from the extreme right and the extreme left. Most Americans sit in the middle and want to work together.”
During the gathering, the Urban League recognized the work of community leaders including Ted and Kelly Alling, who founded Chattanooga Preparatory School, and members of the Sankofa Fund, who have provided $130,000 to support efforts that improve Chattanooga’s communities of color.