The role of Human Resources in workplaces is to create a safe work environment and to handle any disciplinary actions, thus encompassing the concept of “accountability” in theory. However, in reality, the institution of Human Resources is designed as a “saving face”/ to protect the image or reputation of the company. Therefore, complaints made by employees in the context of racial injustice that they experience are quickly dismissed or notion to no regard because HR aims to conceal racism/ bigotry from getting into the view of the public eye. 

The principle-policy gap is defined as the gap between which policies that are set in place are actually not practiced. The principle policy gap is embedded in the framework of workplaces, which can be seen by the distinctions between corporations/ companies claiming that they support “equal opportunity,” when in reality they do not practice equality and oftentimes, they dismiss/ignore employees’ claims of unequal opportunity. There are many workplaces that claim that they are against harassment based off of race, gender, sex/ sexuality, religion, and many other intersectional identities, however, in reality, discrimination still remains prevalent in many shapes and forms both overtly and covertly. Workplaces also claim to support diversity but booking their employee recruitment, it can be said otherwise when those spaces only include a couple of BIPOC individuals in a sea of white employees.

Many authoritarian figures in workplaces (higher-ups such as managers, supervisors, and bosses) commit vile racist acts/ abuse their power merely based on the grounds of their titles. The fault of systems such as HR that are formulated to hold the accountability for any sort of violence, bigotry, harassment, safety, (everything that harms/defies an ideal safe workplace) that incurs in retrospect mirror the principle-policy gap because HR and certain labor unions are concerned with the company’s image instead of having any regards to combating racism experienced by their own employees. In regards to this, the way to understand how a workplace treats its employees is through listening to people’s lived experiences and complaints filed about a certain work to be aware of a racially hostile working environment. 

References: 

Bardes, J. K. (2018, February 7). Redefining vagrancy: Policing freedom and disorder in Reconstruction New Orleans, 1862–1868. Journal of Southern History. Retrieved May 08, 2022, from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/685199/summary

Devah Pager, & Bruce Western. (2005, December 9). Race at work: Realities of Race and Criminal Record in the New York City Job Market. Race at Work: Realities of Race and Criminal Record in the New York City Job Market. Retrieved May 13, 2022, from https://scholar.harvard.edu/pager/publications/race-work-realities-race-and-criminal-record-new-york-city-job-market

Feagin, J. R., & McKinney, K. D. (2005). The Many Costs of Racism. Rowman & Littlefield.

Modern Day Abolition. National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. (n.d.). Retrieved May 23, 2022, from https://freedomcenter.org/learn/modern-day-abolition/#:~:text=Chattel%20slavery%20is%20the%20most,from%20the%2016th%20%E2%80%93%2018th%20centuries.