Talk about a bad look.
A company that provides human resources training to businesses has been using white actors to play black characters in its virtual reality training. The kicker? They were also racial sensitivity trainings.
Mursion, a tech company that facilitates corporate education, uses virtual reality to provide simulations and examples of racial discrimination. The company was using white actors to play Black characters in certain scenarios.
One employee at Mursion said that the use of white actors in these roles is a tough thing for a lot of us to stomach.
Big scary.
Several employees told the website that the white actors mimicked Black dialect. Some people told the website that a white actor used the n-word. This was supposed to be sensitivity training.
Mark Atikinson acknowledged the company's failure to hire Black actors in these roles.
He said that humans make mistakes and that they recognize it. He denied knowing the actor used the n-word.
Digital blackface.
Digital blackface is a phrase used to describe moments online when non-Black people use the voice and images of Black people to express emotions and ideas.
Y-Vonne Hutchinson, CEO of diversity and inclusion at ReadySet, said that the history of blackface, yellowface, and redface in this country can't be separated from the sensitive actors in the world playing these characters.
What sounds like a parody is actually a reflection of our corporate world. If she wants to get more acting roles, she can go to another place.
White actors are playing black characters in virtual reality diversity training.
More on racist tech, like the image-cropping Algorithm of the micro-blogging site.
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