Zakia Hamdani
15.1 This is Zakia Hamdani, and she is an Equity CONSULTANT – a specialist who provides expert advice/recommendations.
15.2 Like Maryam Safdar Ali, Zakia Hamdani is more than capable of advising the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki. BUT THEY BOTH LACK THE AUTHORITY TO ENFORCEMENT THEIR RECOMMENDATIONS!
15.3 And as you can see from the photo, Zakia Hamdani has a very, very light complexion.
15.4 Was it simply a coincidence that a second, even lighter-complexion female was used by the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki to fill a racialized sensitive position?
15.5 This is now the second time the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki have filled positions relating to racialized individuals with a preference for light skinned individual. The DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki can’t even be bothered to hire someone who doesn’t resemble their Organizational Whiteness workforce because they don’t want a dark skinned individual around, PERIOD!
15.6 When seeking to overcome systematic racial bias with the “glass cliff” approach, one of the worst mistakes any corporation or organization can do is to instantly add one or two racialized faces to a board or leadership team and think the issue is handled. Even though it is a fantastic move! By adding one or more racially diverse individuals to the team will not fix the problem for a variety of complex reasons.
15.7 One of the initial issues is that, depending on the size of the group to which they have been assigned, they may not have much meaningful effect. As a result, diversity without inclusion is common, which some experts compare it to being invited to a ball but not asked to dance. Worse, if individuals begin to regard themselves as tokens, it has a negative boomerang impact on morale (used to mark off a diversity target).
15.8 To make matters worse, the one or two racialized members of the board or leadership team are occasionally assigned the least appealing tasks or tasked with resolving all diversity related issues, effectively making them solely responsible for resolving the organization’s decades-old systemic racial issues.
15.9 And this is exactly what the DSBN and Warren Hoshizaki tried to pull off with Maryam Safdar Ali and Zakia Hamdani.