Multicultural Manners : High Five, No-Brainer

Community leaders arrive for a meeting in a fast-growing Southwestern city. Karl, an African American man who is the director of an educational institution, sits next to Susan, a white woman involved with women’s health services. They discover mutual interests and engage in lively conversation that is interrupted when the program leader, Henry, comes over to the table.

When Susan introduces him to Karl, Henry, who is white, slips into a mock African American street dialect and says, “Hey bro, how’s it going?” He follows with a high-five hand slap and walks away.

Karl is aghast, Susan embarrassed.

What went wrong?

Angrily, Karl explained to Susan, “I am a professional. This is supposed to be a professional organization and Henry assumes that because I’m African American he has to respond to me in this patronizing fashion. I didn’t come from the ghetto. In my home, I was never allowed to do that handshake or to speak jive.”

In fact, Karl had an upper class background, had attended the best schools and had worked in high-level positions at blue chip corporations.

Although Karl recognized that Henry acted from ignorance, not malice, it did not lessen the insult. Henry’s stereotypical assumption may have cost him an important business contact.