'Woke' Home Depot flyer causes online stir
A leaked training pamphlet from a Canadian store has divided the internet
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The Home Depot became the subject of controversy online this week over an employee training pamphlet found at a Canadian location that was leaked on social media, sparking accusations that the company has gone "woke."
The Home Depot home improvement store in Mount Prospect, IL, a suburb of Chicago. (istock / iStock)
The flyer that was reportedly posted in a break room at a Calgary, Alberta, Home Depot showed the home improvement giant's logo and was titled, "Leading Practices: Unpacking Privilege." It asks employees to literally "check" their "privilege," whether it be "white privilege," class privilege," "Christian privilege," "cisgender privilege," "able-bodied privilege," or "heterosexual privilege."
The two-pager goes on to encourage workers to discuss white privilege and race with their colleagues, and offers tips on how to do so.
Debate raged for days after the document was posted to Twitter on Sunday, and by Wednesday the words "Home Depot" were trending on the platform.
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On one side of the debate, critics slammed Home Depot over the flyer.
"I came for a hammer and some mulch, not a woke eduction," one individual tweeted. "Get in your lane Home Depot."
On the other side, people defended the training about privilege and said that people criticizing it were "the problem."
One person wrote, "Imagine thinking a company helping their staff think about things from multiple different perspectives, growing empathy for their fellow humans, is something to get upset about."
Shoppers are seen at a Home Depot store in Hyattsville, Maryland, on February 22, 2022. (https://twitter.com/catcradle8/status/1506632330953297935 / Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the U.S.-based company confirmed to FOX Business that the pamphlet had been posted for employees up north, but said the contents were not cleared by corporate.
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"While we fully support diversity across our company, this material was not created or approved by our corporate diversity, equity and inclusion department," a Home Depot spokesperson said in a statement. "This was a resource in our Canadian division and not part of any required programming."