Uber's Diversity Leader Faces Heat For Discussions At Company's Racism-Focused Events

Uber Technologies, Inc UBER suspended the veteran head of diversity, equity, and inclusion following complaints of racism at a company event.
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and the chief people officer Nikki Krishnamurthy last week asked Bo Young Lee, the head of diversity, to take a leave of absence while determining the next steps, NY Times reported citing an internal email.
The employees protested against a pair of events that Uber billed as “diving into the spectrum of the American white woman’s experience” and hearing from white women who work at Uber, with a focus on “the ‘Karen’ persona.”
One event was called “Don’t Call Me Karen.”
Also Read: Uber’s Q1 Performance Gets 5 Star Rating, Zooms Past Expectations, MAUs Touch 130M
Uber’s Slack groups for Black and Hispanic employees expressed frustration for the company minimizing racism and the harm white people can inflict on people of color by focusing on how “Karen” is a hurtful word.
The workers felt prioritization of difficulties experienced by white women and that Lee was dismissive of their concerns.
Khosrowshahi earned a reputation for successfully shepherding Uber from the aggressive, chaotic culture under former CEO Travis Kalanick with higher diversity initiatives under Lee, who has led the effort since 2018.
Uber’s first of the two "Don’t Call Me Karen" events, in April, involving discussions about race and underrepresented groups, sprung up in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
The term Karen is a derogatory term used as slang for a white woman perceived as entitled or demanding beyond the expected scope.
Price Action: UBER shares traded higher by 1.31% at $39.72 on the last check Monday.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons

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