Category Archives: About Us

About the American Diversity Report

Authors I-Q, Social Issues

Freedom and Feudalism in the U.S. – by Debasish Majumdar

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I just love the U.S. I have no desire to visit there, but I am thrilled by their homeland history where feudalism was eclipsed by the  American struggle for independence, where from slavery there was an elevation, to a capitalist economy which paved the way to become an epitome of Justice, Liberty and Fraternity.

But, of late, the essence of feudal vices being emanated from their very core of social life is a grave concern for all who love freedom and liberty. I am worried that it may lose their pristine essence of the land of liberty, for which many aspire to embark upon.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Pandora’s Box of Hate – by Deborah Levine

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Editor’s note: this article on anti-Semitism was originally published as an op-ed in The Chattanooga Times Free Press.

DEBORAH LEVINERussian President Putin got my attention when he suggested that Jews with Russian citizenship might have interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. “Maybe they’re not even Russians,” said Putin. “Maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship – even that needs to be checked.” Putin reminded me why my great grandparents made the harrowing journey from Russia and the Ukraine to the United States. My ancestors weren’t the only ones. Between 1881 and 1924, over 2.5 million East European Jews sought to escape the relentless persecution and ghettoization. The slice of history was captured in the movie Fiddler on the Roof, but while Hollywood entertained, it didn’t fully show the history of anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe, or its ongoing ripple effect.

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Authors R-Z, Inclusion

The Great Flood: an Inclusion Story – by Lydia Taylor

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During the early morning of October 16, 2018, I was awakened by the muffled voices of my parents who were scurrying around their home.  I could hear them speaking but did not know what they were talking about and besides, I was interested in getting a bit more sleep.  At approximately 7:00am one of them appeared in the doorway.  She told me what time it was and that we were evacuating.  Initially I thought, is it that serious?  Nevertheless, I immediately got out of bed and put on some jeans and tennis shoes, grabbed my Vera Bradley duffle and put a few toiletries into the matching cosmetics bag.

I was visiting, so my bags were readily available.  It took very little time and we were out the door and into the driving rain.   As I got into the back seat of the truck I noticed that there was a ladder propped against the roof of the carport.   The situation appeared to be worse than I thought.  After a few minutes the door next to me opened, and I was handed the next-door neighbor’s dog and told we must evacuate her also.  No problem, I love dogs. Within the next few moments we were driving up the hill to higher ground with the next-door neighbors, from both sides, following in their vehicles.

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Authors A-H, Social Issues

First Lady Michelle Obama “Becoming” – by Terry Howard

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She knew full well that a lot of my waking hours are spent reading, writing, listening and reminiscing. Knowing that – and, I suspect, on a hunch – she picked up an extra copy of former first lady Michelle Obama’s soon to be best-selling memoir, Becoming.

The “she” I’m referring to here is “Shree,” a regular among our daily conversation crew at a local coffee shop.

Now on this particular Sunday morning, I was halfway through Pulitzer Prize winning columnist Leonard Pitts’ excellent review of Becoming when Shree walked in and plopped Michelle’s book down in front of me. She saw the look of jubilation on my face and, Shree being Shree, refused my command to pay for the book and left in a hurry.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Give Thanks and Seek Peace – by Deborah Levine

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( originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

DEBORAH LEVINEThanksgiving isn’t just food, family, football, and Black Friday. Not that there’s anything wrong with stuffing yourselves and your loved ones and then heading for the couch and TV or the shopping mall. All are fine American traditions celebrating the abundance in our lives, topped off with delicious left overs. But they seem more removed than ever from the holiday’s intended purpose.

That purpose was demonstrated at the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service held at Pilgrim Congregational Church. We sat in the pews listening to the harmonies of a choir made up of talented congregants from faith groups across the city. The graceful music surrounded and filled us as religious leaders representing Baha’i, Catholic, Humanist, Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant communities offered prayers and poems of gratitude and compassion.

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Levine ADR articles, Poetry 2014-2019, USA Culture

A Bermudian-American Poem for Thanksgiving – by Deborah Levine

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ThanksgivingWe came to America without a clue
When November rolled around and Thanksgiving, too
Stories of refugees sailing in hope
The Mayflower and Plymouth Rock – Who knew!

They fled from the British
but wasn’t that us?
Just listen to this little girl’s
vocab of therefore and thus

I’d never seen a turkey, no drumstick or wing
Never saw a pumpkin or eaten a pie
My eyes got bigger and my ears perked up
I knew the tune I heard them sing

My country tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty
but the words were all wrong
cause it’s an English song

“God save our gracious queen
God save the Queen”

We’d come from Bermuda to be a Jew
Religious freedom and expression, too
Where seldom was heard
A Hebrew prayer or word

Now we sit down together
for the best feast ever
Embracing a new life, a diverse one, with pleasure
Giving thanks for our differences and our joy beyond measure.

Authors I-Q, Inclusion, Teams & Leaders

Find your “where”: where they care about diversity – by Rose Opengart

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Chart your own professional future. Because where you work can make all the difference in the world in your job satisfaction. Why not? Now is the right time. Unemployment is low and there is a labor shortage, so you have choices in jobs!

This means that you should act with purpose in choosing where you work. Figure out what is important to you and then, while interviewing, ask questions that help you learn about the company and if it is a place where your needs and values will be met. If diversity is a critical value for you, it should be as well for the organization at which you work. How can you determine how important diversity is to an organization just from an interview? You will want a sense of this before deciding whether or not to accept an offer of employment. You can acquire this information during an interview by asking questions like the following, observing, and listening.

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Authors A-H, Social Issues

Dismantling Images of Slavery: Interview with Ken Venable – by Terry Howard

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Recently I sat down with Ken Venable inside a coffee shop in Staunton, Virginia, a city recently made famous when the school board – with Venable a member – voted to remove the name of the confederate general Robert E. Lee from the one high school in town.
Now it’s important to cast our conversation against an uncomfortable reminder; that being the complexity of race in small southern towns like Staunton where the specter of race remains ever lurking beneath the distinctive charm of many such towns. Strong feelings on both sides of the contentious debate – “Save the name” versus “The name still hurts” – about the image of Robert E. Lee is a contemporary example.

Here’s our conversation:
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Authors A-H, Politics, Social Issues

5 Ways to Promote Civil Discourse – By K. Palmer Hartl

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Do we have to continue with “I’m okay and you’re an idiot” in our political life? The short answer is no, but getting there will not be easy. For months now we have been subjected to unremitting political ads that attempt to portray the opponent as a bad person. “They will do this to you”…… “They are this (negative) kind of person” and so on. As people came out of the polls from recent elections, one of the common things said was how people were looking forward to the end of relentless attack ads.

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Newspaper Opinion Columns

Holocaust Lessons at Memorial Auditorium – by Deborah Levine

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(originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press)

DEBORAH LEVINEWhen I heard that Holocaust Survivor Eva Schloss was speaking in Chattanooga, I seriously considered staying home. I know Holocaust stories all too well from my work in Holocaust education, the hand-typed memoirs of survivors sent to me, and my father’s World War II letters. Dad was a US military intelligence officer assigned to interrogate Nazi prisoners of war. His letters described their education into fascism and its authoritarian ultranationalism, dehumanizing minorities and suppressing opposition.

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