Photos are circulating on Twitter that show “Unpacking Privilege” training guides with Home Depot’s logo in the corner, and they’ve quickly gone viral on social media. Home Depot has confirmed with Heavy that the photos are authentic, but only used in Canada and not part of any required training program. Here’s what we know about the guide, along with photos of both pages in the “Leading Practices” guide.
The Photos Were First Shared by a Twitter User in Canada
The two-page guide has the headline “Leading Practices” with the subhead “Unpacking privilege” and Home Depot’s logo in the upper corner. The photos were posted to Twitter by LLB, who wrote that they were shared by “a friend that works at Home Depot.” LLB’s Twitter bio says they are located in Calgary, Alberta.
From a friend that works at Home Depot, this is the kind of crap on display in the lunchroom
LLB disagreed with the posters, but the reaction as they have gone viral on Twitter has been mixed. Some disagreed with the posters, while others said there was nothing wrong with it and the guide was actually helpful.
A Twitter user named Vicky replied to LLB and wrote, “Why is it garbage? I worked briefly in a big box store and something like this would have been useful, especially for some of the managers.”
Someone replied and asked LLB, “Is this true?,” to which they replied, “Yep” but did not provide any additional details.
A conservative-leaning opinion piece published in the Western Standard reported that the guide was seen in a Home Depot staff room in Calgary. However, the publication also noted that Home Depot stores had not replied to their inquiries.
Below are the photos shared by @LLB24693515 on Twitter. Many of the viral posts only show the first page. The guide starts out by defining two examples of privilege: social privilege and white privilege. It talks about how people may have privilege if they are “confident the police exist to protect you,” were expected to go to college, get time off for their religion’s holidays, can use a public bathroom without anxiety, don’t have to worry about how to get into a story, or never have to explain that their spouse is the same gender. The guide goes on to list different types of privilege, including white, male, class, Christian, cisgender, able-bodied, and heterosexual. It then describes racism and racial prejudice.
Twitter/LLB
The second page, which wasn’t as widely circulated, discusses talking about white privilege and why it can be uncomfortable. The guide notes, “White privilege does not your life has not been hard. It simply means that the colour of your skin is not one of the reasons that makes it harder.”
Twitter/LLB
Bev on Twitter replied to the original post, writing, “Wow, strange how this information takes you right out of your comfort zone. I found it interesting to read and thought provoking. It’s sad that the thought of learning something contrary to your own thoughts can trigger such negative emotion and comments.”
Many People on Social Media Said They Have Not Seen the Guide, But Home Depot Confirmed They Were Authentic
While the guide was shared in numerous Reddit groups, Home Depot employees posted that they had not personally seen it themselves. On the Home Depot subreddit, for example, no one reported seeing the guide where they worked. One person wrote, “I don’t remember seeing this in my employment packet when I was hired last year.” Another person replied, “I didnt even see it 2 years ago when I got hired either.”
Another person in the U.S. wrote, “Pretty sure this is fake. I’m the training coach in my team and have never seen or heard of this. We’ve been in a massive hiring kick the past month or so. Had 3 new hires over the last 2 months on my small team, they never mentioned seeing anything like this either. They or maybe some store is running rogue and passing this stuff out without corporate approval.” They noted later that they could not speak for Canadian stores, however.
However, Home Depot confirmed with Heavy that the photos were authentic, but limited to the Canadian division. They also said it was not part of any required training.
A representative wrote to Heavy and shared, “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.”