Category Archives: Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

Campus Diversity in Data Science – by Robert Florida

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Meet the Class of 2020:
Kevin Womack Works to Increase Diversity in Data Science

campus diversityAs an undergraduate student at Morehouse College, Kevin Womack double majored in mathematics and computer science. To study two such demanding fields was doubly difficult, he says. But, crediting his mother (an engineer) and his father (a computer scientist), Womack says that quantitative reasoning came naturally to him and he was undaunted by the workload. Now a student in the master’s degree program at the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, Womack excels in his coursework and is an advocate for increased diversity in data science. Here, he discusses his background, his career goals, and his commitment to diversity.

Tell us about your time as a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

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About Us, Authors I-Q, Of Women

Remembering: A Woman’s Life Well-Lived – by Judy Kimeldorf

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Reflecting at 80

Judy Kimeldorf was born in 1940 and witnessed or participated in world-changing events from the erection of the Berlin Wall to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, and now the disappointing step back into nationalism and fascism. She spends her time in retirement on community projects including Food Banks, monthly standing out with Trump-GOP protest placards programs, coordinating a program providing back-to-school supplies for limited income families, and guiding her local home owners association. I (her husband of 40+ years) invited 50 of her close friends to celebrate her 80th birthday. Judy and I celebrate  birthdays by remembering and reflecting, and this year, Judy recalled experiences shaping her life across 80 years. This piece is built from that speech and contains lessons for us all about balancing our fears and disappointments with our hopes and blessings.
~ Martin Kimeldorf

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Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity, Trends 2020

N-word 2020 – by Terry Howard

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Years ago, I penned a piece, “The N-Word Still Stings,” a day after having the word – rather, the dagger – hurled at me from beer guzzling cowards on the back of a pickup truck while I was out walking in the neighborhood. Which brings us back into the N-word conundrum in February 2020. It continues to raise its ugly head – during African American History Month 2020, mind you. During “post racial America,” mind you. During America “made great again,” mind you.

You see, in a small city in the South, one still reeling from an acrimonious removal of the name of a Confederate general from the local school, a white kid called an African American classmate the “N-Word.” And the black kid’s mom went ballistic. When the local newspaper picked up on this controversy, it published it. Soon the small city deteriorated into a city-wide freak out along racial line.

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Authors I-Q, Religious Diversity

Bias: Diversity and Inclusion Trends 2020 – by Soumaya Khalifa

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D&I – Intentionality

It’s exciting to start a new year and a new century with the hopes that this year will be better and offer many opportunities.  The work in Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) must be intentional and not a one-time activity to check-off the box. Successful organizations in the field tend to have D&I as part of their organizational DNA just like safety.  Some trends for this year include: intentionality and understanding for the business case for D&I, increase in unconscious bias awareness, and the expanding of the Muslim ban on its impact in the workplace. 

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Authors A-H, Religious Diversity

A perfect stranger – by Terry Howard

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I drove through town on the way to, I forget where, when I observed scores of places of worship of varying sizes – megacomplexes to storefronts – doting the landscape. Along the way, I wondered what it was like inside each of the ones I never sat foot in; how their services are conducted, and would I be welcomed in them.

Now when I reached my destination – ah, now I remember, a newly-opened bookstore – and browsed the shelves, I came across an eye-catching book, “How to Become a Perfect Stranger- The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook.” So, just like that my “prayers” were answered.

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Authors A-H, Books, Race & Ethnicity

Black History Month: Keepin’ It Real on Race – by David B. Grinberg

James Baldwin, the 20th century black intellectual, renaissance author and cultural critic, once observed: “History is the present. We carry our history with us. To think otherwise is criminal.”

In addition to recognizing African American trailblazers of centuries past during Black History Month, it’s also instructive to consider more recent history. That’s why a compelling new book by historian Elwood David Watson, Ph.D. is recommended reading:
Keepin’ It Real: Essays on Race in Contemporary America (University of Chicago Press).

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Race & Ethnicity, USA Culture

Sacred Fires: Betty Shabazz, MLK and Thich Nhat Hanh – by Andréana Lefton

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Sacred firesOur world is burning up from within. We need action – now – to lower the earth’s temperature, to stop mass incarceration , child abuse, and human trafficking. And what about self-harm and self-hate? Why does our own spirit twist against us so violently?

Searching for more answers – or at least some deeper insights – I turned to the lives of three people burned by hate, and burning with love. The first is Vietnamese monk and peace activist, Thich Nhat Hanh.

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Authors A-H, Generational

Consider the hourglass – by Terry Howard

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Hey readers, this narrative is for you personally. Each of you.

But before reading further, picture an hourglass and imagine you seated in the top. If not you, envision someone else you know and care about sitting there. And although this may be a stretch, visualize your city of residence, perhaps one that’s splintering along racial lines. Now further picture the sand beneath you slowly slipping into the bottom.

Hold your image for now. hourglass

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Authors A-H, Teams & Leaders

Diversity and Speech Part 10: Harmful 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 December, 2019, Speculative Futures in Education Conference at the University of California, Riverside.

In my previous column I argued that the internet has dramatically altered the diversity-speech discussion, particularly when it comes to hate speech.  As an easily-accessible mechanism for spreading hate, including through troll storms and doxing, the internet has developed into a true weapon of terror.   

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Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity, Trends 2020

Talking about Race in 2020 – by Mike Green

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Then and Now

From 1868 (and a 14th amendment that gave birth to black “Americans”) to 1968 (which saw the brutal murder of a black Christian preacher whose elevated voice of the oppressed was silenced), 100 years of segregationist policies and practices protected and preserved white supremacy and oppressed nonwhites. 

Those policies & practices didn’t die with the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They remain in place today, more than 50 years later, in every city in America.

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