Racial Discrimination at the World Bank

On the morning of May 27th this year, the staff of the Legal Affairs Office of the World Bank encountered an ugly racial slur scrawled on the wall outside their department. Very shortly, however, the words "N–––, go home!" were erased by order of World Bank management. This was the second such episode in as many weeks.

The General Counsel's office filed an incident report with security services, much as you might do about a broken lock or a stolen purse, but word spread rapidly through the Bank. For days, black staff members waited in vain for senior management to condemn the graffiti and inform them about steps that would be taken to ensure that public displays of race hatred would be stopped. This expectation was met with silence. Senior management neither acknowledged nor condemned either incident. One week later, the Bank's diversity policy was posted on the intranet. Period.

This dismissal of racist conduct at the World Bank came as no surprise to many black staff members working there. Although the Bank's website characterizes the institution as "able to attract, excite and nurture diverse and committed staff with exceptional skills who know how to listen and learn," both data and folklore have strongly suggested otherwise for many years. Less than two weeks after the graffiti appeared, my colleague Shelley Walden at the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and I released a report documenting a clear pattern of racial discrimination that disfigures the personnel profile of the World Bank. Staff members of black African heritage, whether they come from sub-Saharan Africa, the United States, or elsewhere in the Americas, are less likely to be found in professional grades at the Bank or to be promoted than their non-black colleagues.

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