It has become a truism that COVID-19 has widened the gap between America’s haves and have nots. As the wealthy add to their corpus, the poor struggle to survive. But beneath this master plot lie millions of disparity narratives, stories that repeat themselves over and over. So it is with the narrative of English Language … Continue reading Diversity & Speech Part 15: English Language Learners – by Carlos Cortés
Completing her second year as a pediatrics professor at the University of California, Riverside, Adwoa was focused on providing clinical training for her medical students. A retired UCR history professor, Carlos had no way of imagining that he would soon be joining the staff of a medical school. . Then the UCR School of Medicine … Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 14: Health Equity – by Carlos Cortés, Adwoa Osei
Hate speech may be the thorniest point of contention between diversity advocates and free speech absolutists. Of course most people oppose hate and detest hate speech. But what should we do about it? That’s where disagreements begin. Let’s look at hate speech from four perspectives. Legal: what does the U.S. Constitution say about hate speech? … Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 18: Hate Speech – by Carlos E. Cortés
2020 turned into a momentous year for diversity training. The COVID-19 pandemic forced many diversity trainers, myself included, to re-invent themselves by adapting their workshops into an online format. The Memorial Day killing of George Floyd thrust anti-racism into the center of diversity training, challenging those presenters who had generally soft-pedaled the issue. President Donald … Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 17: Diversity Training – by Carlos E. Cortés
The May, 2020, Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd launched thousands of anti-racism proclamations. Millions took part in that performative aftermath. Include me among those millions. Like many people, I wear multiple hats. One is chairing the Mayor’s Multicultural Forum in Riverside, California. My half-century hometown is a sizable (330,000-person) city, whose steady but not … Continue reading Diversity & Speech Part 16: Creating an Anti-Racism Vision Statement – by Carlos E. Cortés
Education, particularly higher education, has become ground zero for the clash of inclusive diversity and robust speech. Many administrators and professors proclaim their support of both. So do I. Yes, they can co-exist. But there will be clashes, inevitably. Which means decisions, tough decisions, will have to be made. In the wake of the Memorial … Continue reading Diversity & Speech Part 13: Education and Equity – by Carlos E. Cortés
For the past two years I have been writing a series of columns about the complicated intersection of inclusive diversity and robust speech. Although my last column appeared just two months ago, in some respects it seems like ancient history. Maybe it is. Because on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020, a Minneapolis Police Officer … Continue reading Diversity & Speech Part 12: Systemic Racism – by Carlos E. Cortés
This is my final (for now) of three columns offering fifty-year projections concerning the following question: as a nation, where will we stand in 2070 when it comes to the contested interplay of diversity and speech? These three columns are based on a December, 2019, public presentation on diversity and speech that I gave at … Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 11: Dehumanizing Speech 2070 – by Carlos E. Cortés
This is the second of three columns in which I make fifty-year projections concerning the following question: as a nation, where will we stand in 2070 when it comes to the contested interplay of diversity and speech? These three columns are based on a public presentation on diversity and speech that I gave at the … Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 10: Harmful Speech 2070 – by Carlos E. Cortés
During my tenure as a fellow of the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement, I examined how the diversity movement of the past half century has influenced our nation’s conversation concerning speech. Then, in October, I ran across a call for proposals to present at a December 2019, symposium on … Continue reading Diversity and Speech Part 9: Hate Speech 2070 – by Carlos E. Cortés
