Coca-Cola, facing mounting backlash from conservatives online, has responded to allegations of anti-white rhetoric after an internal whistleblower leaked screenshots of diversity training materials that encourages staff to “try to be less white.”
On Friday, Karlyn Borysenko, an activist who supports banning critical race theory, shared images from an internal whistleblower of the company’s online racism training. The slides included tips to learners on how to be “less white, less arrogant, less certain, less defensive, less ignorant and more humble.”
“In the U.S. and other Western nations, white people are socialized to feel that they are inherently superior because they are white,” one of the slides read. “Research shows that by age 3 to 4, children understand that it is better to be white.”
A Coca-Cola spokesperson confirmed that the course is “part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace,” but also noted that “the video circulating on social media is from a publicly available LinkedIn Learning series and is not a focus of our company’s curriculum.”
“Our Better Together global learning curriculum is part of a learning plan to help build an inclusive workplace,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “It is comprised of a number of short vignettes, each a few minutes long. The training includes access to LinkedIn Learning on a variety of topics, including on diversity, equity and inclusion.”