Home Depot says worksheet about white privilege was not authorized after getting hammered on social media



Home Depot said that a controversial worksheet about white privilege posted to social media was unauthorized by the company after it was hammered by critics.

A copy of the worksheet on social media described the concept of white privilege and was posted to the Twitter account "Libs of Tik Tok" where it quickly went viral. The account has 570k followers.

The worksheet first defined the concept of social privilege:

Special, unearned advantage or entitlement, used to one's own benefit or to the detriment of others. These groups can be advantaged based on social class, age, disability, ethnic or racial category, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and religion.

Then it defined white privilege:

Societal privileges that benefit white people beyond what is commonly experienced by people of colour under the same social, political and economic circumstances.

The worksheet went on to describe some expectations from those who assume their privilege.

“If while growing up, college was an expectation of you, not a dream, you have class privilege," it claimed. "If you don't have to worry about how to get into a store, you have able-bodied privilege."

It also defined racial prejudice as a "set of discriminatory or derogatory attitudes based on assumptions coming from perceptions about race/skin colour."

Some of the portions of the worksheet appeared to be copied from a social media campaign against privilege in 2014 at the University of San Francisco.

The outrage

Many responded to the worksheet by tweeting that they would no longer shop at Home Depot.

"I think maybe having an account there is privilege. Cancel your Home Depot card," said one account that called for a boycott of the company.

"This kind of divisive crap has to go! Boycott Home Depot," read another tweet.

"Well my privilege is I can BOYCOTT home depot & spread this all over..." responded another user.

Home Depot responds

On Wednesday, the company responded to the furor and said that the worksheet came from its Canadian division and that it had been unauthorized.

“While we fully support diversity across our company, this material was not created or approved by our corporate diversity, equity and inclusion department. This was a resource in our Canadian division and not part of any required programming," read the statement from Home Depot.

In 2019, then-President Donald Trump decried boycotts when many on the left said they would boycott Home Depot over its retired co-founder Bernie Marcus saying he would support Trump's 2020 campaign.

Here's the viral worksheet at Libs of Tik Tok:

Home Depot has gone wokepic.twitter.com/iCy3uMJ4VC
— Libs of Tik Tok (@Libs of Tik Tok) 1647996504

Home Depot co-founder writes op-ed explaining why he's endorsing Trump, Democrats launch boycott campaign



Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot, endorsed President Donald Trump in the 2020 election and called him "Ronald Reagan's heir," which was immediately met with uproar by Democrats online.

Marcus wrote an opinion piece on Fox News titled "Trump deserves a second term and has my vote. Here's why." The 91-year-old billionaire is hopeful that the U.S. economy is rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic, as seen with the record-setting 33.1% GDP growth in the third quarter.

Marcus applauded Trump for instituting a China travel ban on Jan. 31, which Joe Biden opposed. Marcus is impressed by Operation Warp Speed, which he said, "reduced burdensome regulations to develop a vaccine in record time."

"Trump's pro-growth policies, including tax cuts and deregulation, have given entrepreneurs the opportunity and capital to hire, expand, and raise wages," Marcus wrote in the op-ed. "This has created a roaring and resilient small business economy that can quickly bounce back from the pandemic shock."

The Home Depot co-founder noted that before the COVID-19 pandemic, "the unemployment rate fell to historic lows, including record levels for Hispanic and Black workers."

"In 2019, middle-class incomes grew at the record rate of 6.8 percent – almost 50 percent more than during the entire eight-year Obama-Biden administration," he added. "And the poverty rate fell to its lowest level in 60 years."

Marcus said he is voting for Trump because he believes that with a second term the president "can improve the small business climate even further, facilitating entrepreneurship, which accelerates economic growth and provides careers to those who need them most."

Angry Democrats saw the Home Depot co-founder supporting Trump and launched the #BoycottHomeDepot campaign, despite Marcus retiring from the company in 2002.

"The co-founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus, thinks Trump deserves a second term," talk show host and Democratic strategist Chip Franklin wrote on Twitter. "Who else is ready to boycott Home Depot? #BoycottHomeDepot"

"Would you do me a quick favor and please comment with #BoycottHomeDepot to get this trending? I want to make sure the co-founder of Home Depot, Bernie Marcus, pays for saying that Trump deserves a second term," Franklin added.

"If you plan on buying a hammer, wood, or ANY home improvement items from Home Depot, you may as well send donations DIRECTLY to trump's 2020 campaign," one person tweeted.

One individual implied that the support of Trump equated to supporting Nazis.

However, there was a counter-movement of Americans saying that they would shop more at Home Depot after learning about Marcus endorsing Trump.

Conservative talk show radio host Jason Rantz said, "Support your local Home Depot and the workers tolerant progressives will lay off during a pandemic because the founder supports @realDonaldTrump."

"If the morons on the left are tweeting #BoycottHomeDepot I am immediately doing all my shopping at Home Depot," a Twitter user said. "I hope they start selling meat, fruits, and vegetables!"

"WE SUPPORT @HomeDepot because they SUPPORT AMERICA," another person stated.

Conservative commentator Melissa Tate responded by saying, "The betas saying they are going to #BoycottHomeDepot don't even know how to change a light bulb let alone swing a hammer. Trust me, these are not Home Depot shoppers."

This isn't the first time that Democrats attempted to organize a boycott against Home Depot. In July of 2019, Marcus showed support of Trump, and leftists launched an online campaign to attempt to cancel the hardware retailer.

At the time, Home Depot spokeswoman Margaret Smith released a statement noting that Marcus retired more than a decade ago and does not speak on behalf of the company. "In fact, as a standard practice, the company does not endorse Presidential candidates," Smith told NPR last year.

Bernie Marcus has a net worth of $7.4 billion, according to Forbes. Last July, Marcus told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he plans to donate "80 to 90% of whatever is left of his wealth will go to his foundation, which in turn will give to philanthropic causes" after he dies.