Clothing Brand Offers Discount to Customers Who Complete DEI Training

(ProsperNews.net) – Clothing giant The North Face is offering discounts to customers who pass a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) course. The company launched its “Allyship in the Outdoors” program last year to teach people about “racial disparities” in outdoor activities. Those who take the course can get 20% off when they purchase products at North Face outlets.

According to the garment seller, people of color face “unique challenges” in outdoor pursuits, and the DEI course seeks to address those and encourage people to be better “allies.”

The course contains four modules, including white privilege, which it says provides access to the outdoors that black people are denied because of “historic, enduring racism and biases.” The North Face acknowledges, however, that there is no actual barrier to non-white people enjoying outdoor pursuits, but nevertheless, they are excluded by “the system.”

The notion that the countryside and related activities are too white is hotly debated in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom, where the DEI course is focused.

In February, a collection of British charities and organizations known as the Wildlife and Countryside Link said the UK’s countryside is “racist” and a “colonial space.” In a report, the group said, “Racist colonial legacies continue to frame nature in the UK” and called on the British government to create a “legally binding target” that will ensure more black and non-white people take walks in the country.

Link’s chief executive, Richard Benwell, a former candidate for the left-leaning Liberal Democrat party, also blamed British colonialism for climate change, which it caused by introducing industry to the world.

This was not the only time the UK’s countryside was accused of racism. The University of Leicester, a city in central England where native Britons are now a minority, launched a study of “rural racism” last year and found that the countryside is “perceived” as white-dominated and, therefore, non-whites do not feel they will be welcome and choose to stay away.