Just wanted to follow up - did the presentation a few days ago. Went great, and I got the reaction I was hoping for from the audience. I saw some combination of shock, anger, horror, and most importantly compassion on just about every face infront of me (class of about 70 people).
Wrapped it up by hitting them with a quick spiel on “If you think this needs to change - or stay as is - that’s up to you: submit your answer into the ballot box on November 5th.”
No idea if I spurred any into action any who weren’t already planning on voting, but there was definitely some energy in the room. That went about as well as I could have hoped!
Thanks for the assist!
In a work environment, best response is to ask things like “why?” “What do you mean?” Etc and let them either dig a hole that you can bring to HR; or come to the realization that their derogatory mindset actually feels really dirty when they spell it out, and drop it on their own.