New Delhi, May 6 -- Few quotes about race, power, and institutions have remained as relevant across decades as Toni Morrison's warning about distraction. Delivered during her 1975 lecture A Humanist View at Portland State University, Morrison framed racism as a system that consumes time, focus, energy, and productivity.

More than 50 years later, the quote continues to resonate. In workplaces, leadership circles, and corporate strategy discussions, Morrison's insight increasingly reads as a warning about how exclusion damages performance itself.

Morrison argued that racism works through direct discrimination. People who constantly face bias often spend valuable mental energy responding to stereotypes, or navigating unequal treatment inst...