Exposing Discrimination or Unfair Trial by Social Media? The Case of a Workplace Hairdo in Trinidad & Tobago · Global Voices
Black Power fist; image by <PERSON>, used under a CC BY 2.0 license.
The COLFIRE controversy continues to heat up in Trinidad and Tobago. In correspondence dated August 11, 2016, the insurance company's human resources manager signed a letter asking employee <PERSON>, who is black, to adopt a more professional hairstyle. <PERSON> posted a photo of the letter — and his ‘do — to Facebook. Although he thereafter deleted the post, it had already gone viral, sending the local blogosphere into a tizzy over the perceived discrimination against natural hair.
Four days later, it was revealed that COLFIRE's management had sent <PERSON> on paid leave, pending an internal investigation on the matter. In a statement over the weekend, the company said that it couldn’t publicly discuss the case of an employee and that it “denies the damning allegations that have resulted from the publication of an internal document”. In an update on the matter posted by Facebook user <PERSON> (who supports <PERSON>), he states:
The company thought that it was necessary to enforce ‘administrative leave’, because he caused the company great ‘public embarrassment’.
Staff have been told to use their social media accounts to boost the company's image online and any employee found to be bad talking the company on social media or entertaining such talk will face disciplinary action.
On the same Facebook thread, commenter <PERSON> suggested:
He [<PERSON>] is wrong to light up his employer so on a public forum … It would have been smarter to comply and then complain.
<PERSON> replied:
Sometimes we have to shatter the status-quo to make fundamental changes. its how things have happened for centuries. 957
There is always a spark that ignites the change.
Quizzes, combs and <PERSON>
Change is what netizens are agitating for. Many interpret the company's conservatism as racial discrimination and believe that this has been the status quo for far too long. University lecturer <PERSON> quoted an excerpt from the 1971 report of the Commission of Enquiry into Racial and Colour Discrimination in the Private Sector:
We are impressed generally in the case of the banks that a state of racial and colour imbalance exists because of the inheritance of institutionalized forms of discrimination which have not been completely changed…some banks have been more radical and progressive than others, but in general the older the bank, the more conservative its policy appeared…Even though active discrimination in new appointments may have ceased, the social effects of past discrimination still remain highly visible…this requires in the interest of social justice and public confidence that deliberate institutional measures be taken…to see that this situation brought to an end.
Nearly 50 years later, the country appears to be fighting the same battle, albeit virtually this time. Netizens began to hit back, some in very creative ways. Artist <PERSON> posted two new anti-COLFIRE images on Facebook, which were being widely shared — the first portraying a silhouette of an employee shackled to his desk and the other comparing the insurance firm's stance to United States Republican presidential candidate <PERSON>'s controversial election campaign:
Image by <PERSON>, used with permission.
Image by <PERSON>, used with permission.
There was even a quiz — the link to which social media users were liberally posting — to determine who had what to took to be a COLFIRE hire.
A screenshot of the “FIRED” result of the COLFIRE quiz that is being widely shared on social media.
On Twitter, Livewired Group commented:
That #Colfire quiz. No chill 😂😂 Brands need to remember that consumers are better at content creation than some marketers.
— Livewired Group (@LivewiredGroup) August 16, 2016
Even Trinidadian calypsonian <PERSON> put in his two cents’ worth, posting a photo of the Jamaican athlete who won gold in the Men's 110m hurdles in Rio and commenting on his Facebook page:
A Jamaican, <PERSON>, sporting a ‘Colfire’ wins the 110 m hurdles gold in Rio.
And in case yuh don't know what a Colfire is, it's a now controversial Trinidadian hairstyle.
‘The internet has created a new class of publishers’
Humour aside, there is the serious question of possible legal consequences. Some lawyers are telling the media that the employee “doesn't have a legal leg to stand on” if he were to bring a discrimination suit against the company or the company were to take him to court. 142