Category Archives: Race & Ethnicity

Racial and ethnic cultural differences

Needed: Some New Diversity Language – by Carlos E. Cortés

We in the diversity world need a new pair of words. Or maybe the terms already exist and I just don’t know about them. Here’s my concern about diversity language.

In November I had a discussion with my cyberpal Neal Goodman, president of Global Dynamics. Neal had just read “Toward a 21st-Century Interculturalism: Reflections of a Cranky Old Historian,” my keynote address at the October, 2017, national conference of the Society for Intercultural Education, Training, and Research. In that talk I had contrasted the words ethnonym and ethnophaulism.

Continue reading Needed: Some New Diversity Language – by Carlos E. Cortés

Interview with Kim Wayans: Comedian & Advocate – by Deborah Levine

Wayans
Diversity Stories CD for Kids

Kim is a key member of the Wayans clan that created TV’s In Living Color. The ten Wayans siblings grew up poor in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood. Elvira, Kim’s mother, was a homemaker and social worker who took the kids everywhere, no nannies, and no babysitter. Their father was a supermarket manager and the Jehovah’s Witness in the family. With no background in the entertainment business and little money, the Wayans’ success is an unlikely story.

Continue reading Interview with Kim Wayans: Comedian & Advocate – by Deborah Levine

Bill Maher and the N-Word Debate – Elwood Watson

Bill Maher, host of the quasi political/entertainment program HBO Real Time with Bill Maher, recently had renowned Black intellectual and ordained Baptist minister Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and rapper Ice Cube as guests. They discussed the n-word controversy that erupted on the May 31 edition of the program when Maher flippantly referred to himself as a “house nigger” in an interview with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska). The senator had been invited to the program to discuss his book on what he sees as the increasing problem on prolonged adolescence occurring in American society. Sasse and Maher agreed on the issue and provided examples and suggestions on how to rectify the problem. Things seemed to be going well up until this exchange transpired between both men:

Maher: Adults dress up for Halloween. They don’t do that in Nebraska?

Sasse: It’s frowned upon. We don’t do that quite as much.

Maher: I gotta get to Nebraska more.

Sasse: You’re welcome. We’d love to have you work in the fields with us.

Maher: Work in the fields? Senator, I’m a house nigger.

Continue reading Bill Maher and the N-Word Debate – Elwood Watson

Talking About Race, Sometimes Awkward But Always Necessary – by Simma Lieberman

Talking about race with people who are different from you can be awkward and uncomfortable, but it’s necessary and doable. Racism exists, racial conflict exists, and inequality still exists.

Even some people who work in the diversity and inclusion field stay in their comfort zone, and still almost only interact with people who are like them.

After facilitating conversations about race and other differences for over 25 years using our 3D Process, (Diversity, Difference and Dialogue.) we’ve found what works and what doesn’t. At the end of this newsletter, you’ll find a few of our best practices.

Continue reading Talking About Race, Sometimes Awkward But Always Necessary – by Simma Lieberman

Consider the Iceberg: Untold Challenges of the Boys in Blue – by Terry Howard

Readers, you’ll need to rely on your imagination to read this narrative.
Let’s start with a few actual “voices from the ranks.”

First Donnie, a middle age white police officer who got out of his hospital bed after recovering from a brutal beating by a drug dealer and returned to street duty, to the profession he still loves.

Continue reading Consider the Iceberg: Untold Challenges of the Boys in Blue – by Terry Howard

Hispanic Targeted Ads – by AHAA

Study Shows Steep Increase in Corporate Efforts to Target Hispanics

The top 500 U.S. marketers are allocating about 8.4 percent of their overall ad spend to Hispanic dedicated efforts, this is up from 5.5 percent in 2010, according to a new report from AHAA: The Voice of Hispanic Marketing. Over the past five years, the top 500 advertisers boosted their spending in Hispanic targeted media by 63 percent or $2.7 billion from $4.3 billion in 2010 to $7.1 billion. The top 500 advertisers boosted their average spending from $9 million in Hispanic targeted media in 2010 to $14 million now.

Continue reading Hispanic Targeted Ads – by AHAA

Dr. Nika White: The Intentional Inclusionist™

The Intentional InclusionistDr. Nika White is President of Nika White Consulting and the author of The Intentional Inclusionist ™ in  which she shares her strategies for becoming an inclusion-minded leader. The book features principles and philosophies that help individuals better understand diversity and inclusion and be more intentional in their practice at the individual level. Dr. White has a Ph. D. in Management in Organizational Leadership and is headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina.

CLICK for The Intentional Inclusionist podcast

The Politics of ‘the angry black Sistah’! – by Terry Howard

Other than race (black) and gender (female), what else do April Ryan, Maxine Waters, Joy Ann Reid and Angela Rye have in common?

The answer? They’re smart as heck, forceful in expressing their politics and views, and more than able to defend themselves against disrespect. You see, while others (yes, men, this also includes many of you too) sit in silence these powerful women won’t hesitate to hit back despite the potential for being tagged “An Angry Black Woman.” (If you’re unfamiliar with these women Google them before reading further.)

Continue reading The Politics of ‘the angry black Sistah’! – by Terry Howard

What to Do About Upticks in Hate! – by Terry Howard

On a balmy recent Sunday afternoon, the KKK visited Douglasville, Georgia. Throngs of us decided to pay a visit to our visitors. Many gathered along the road, some with their families and lounge chairs as if they were about to watch a Christmas parade. Some brought Bibles, others protest placards bearing words unprintable in this space. As expected the police turnout was large as was the media.

You see, the KKK came to protest the sentences of a local man and woman who received long prison terms for yelling racial slurs and pointing guns at participants at a 10 year-old’s black kid’s birthday party.

Continue reading What to Do About Upticks in Hate! – by Terry Howard

One Woman’s Black-Jewish Story – by Marceline Donaldson

As a young girl, I lived in a middle-class Black community surrounded by people who made me feel that I was incredible and could do anything I set her mind to. It was a recipe for constant conflict with a racist, sexist society and its institutions throughout the rest of my life.

Continue reading One Woman’s Black-Jewish Story – by Marceline Donaldson