Category Archives: Race & Ethnicity

Racial and ethnic cultural differences

Advisors, Authors A-H, Gender, Race & Ethnicity, Religious Diversity

Renewing Diversity #13: Diversity History as a Foreign Country – by Carlos Cortés

In his mesmerizing novel, The Go-Between, L. P. Hartley wrote one of the finest opening lines of any novel I have ever read:  “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”

That certainly holds true for the historical trajectory of diversity.  At age 91, I’ve lived through myriad changes in the American diversity landscape.  As we wrestle with ongoing, inevitable challenges faced by the diversity movement, it behooves us to thoughtfully consider our past trajectory.  Yet to actually learn from that trajectory, we need to recognize how our presentist lenses can distort the very past that we are trying to understand.

Continue reading Renewing Diversity #13: Diversity History as a Foreign Country – by Carlos Cortés →

Authors R-Z, Race & Ethnicity

DEI: The Heart and Soul of America – by Niloo Soleimani

Why Micro-Belonging Is the Future

When people talk about DEI, they often turn to statistics, trends, and political debates — but for me, it began as something far more personal. I didn’t begin my American journey with belonging. I began it with silence, loneliness, and a depression I didn’t have words for at fourteen. I came with colored olive skin and an accent that marked me as “other” the moment I opened my mouth. I watched people connect effortlessly while I stood at the edges — unseen, unheard, and aching for a place in a world that was unkind to someone who didn’t quite fit. Those early years taught me how deeply not belonging can cut into the human heart. And it was in the small, unexpected moments — a classmate who smiled, a teacher who believed in me, a coworker who listened — that I learned something even more powerful: belonging is built in tiny, human gestures. And those gestures became my first understanding of what America could be at its best.

Continue reading DEI: The Heart and Soul of America – by Niloo Soleimani →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

Rewriting History: Playing the Race Card – by Terry Howard

 ‘DEI Hire’ and other dog whistles 

I have something to say and will say it on a few issues I’ll get to shortly. 

Why me? Well, I guess it is because I’m blessed with several platforms to educate, elevate, cajole, annoy, encourage, or enrage based on what happens to crop in the latest news or on the sociopolitical menu. And this is a privilege I don’t take for granted. If I win or lose friends, well so be it. It comes with the territory. 

Now class, pull out your notebooks and ready yourselves for a lecture beginning with how one migrates from “Rewriting” to “Revealing” to “Amending” History. After lunch, we’ll switch to “Responding to the ‘playing the race card’ nonsense then finish up with boogeyman number three, dubbing someone a “diversity hire.” 

Continue reading Rewriting History: Playing the Race Card – by Terry Howard →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

Black History: A Personal and Historical Reflection – by Gail Dawson

Origins and Significance of Black History Month

In February 1926, Carter G. Woodson initiated the celebration of Black History Week to honor the achievements and contributions of Black Americans, which had largely been overlooked in mainstream history. Woodson specifically chose February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, which fall on February 12th and 14th, respectively. Fifty years later, in 1976, the observance was officially expanded to cover the entire month of February. Subsequently, in 1986, Congress passed Public Law 99-244, formally designating February as National Black History Month.

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Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

20 Interview Questions I Should Have Asked – by Sharon Hurley Hall

More than 300,000 Black women have lost their jobs this year. As a Black woman who’s navigated similar systems, it’s made me think about the interview processes I faced: extremely stressful, multiple rounds, and not a person who shared my identity at any of them. I know from my own experience that there are double-takes as you walk in the door. There’s extensive questioning about birth, nationality and my right to be there, and extreme scrutiny of my qualifications. And even if I then get the job, there’s no guarantee it’s a safe place to work. 

I know I’m not the only one to experience this. But what if you could use the interview process to get the answers you really need as a Black person? You might not get the job, but you’d be a whole lot clearer about whether it was the right workplace for you.

Here are 20 questions I wish I’d been able to ask.  Continue reading 20 Interview Questions I Should Have Asked – by Sharon Hurley Hall →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

The little known life of Willis Carter – by Terry Howard

I could be wrong (and hope that I am) but the guess here is that those about to read this column are probably unfamiliar with the name Willis McGlascow Carter. (How about a show of hands by those who do and are anxious to prove me wrong.)

But for those who don’t, no worry since until recently, neither did I although he spent most of his life as a teacher, newspaper editor and activist in Staunton, Virginia, which happens to be my hometown.

Continue reading The little known life of Willis Carter – by Terry Howard →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

Mr. and Mrs. President, tear down those border walls – by Terry Howard

In case you didn’t know, September 12 is the start of HHM (Hispanic Heritage Month). And I’ll be completely honest with you, readers – I missed writing something uniquely significant and celebratory about HHM and other heritage months over the past few years. To be clear, I’m not Hispanic by birth, although that doesn’t matter, nevertheless I still regret missing that annual opportunity. 

Continue reading Mr. and Mrs. President, tear down those border walls – by Terry Howard →

Advisors, Advisors, Authors A-H, Of Women, Race & Ethnicity

The Realities of Dark-Skinned Black Women – by Terry Howard

I begin this piece with a test on your ability to immediately recognize the names of the following  five prominent Black women in the United States. Any luck? 

Lisa Cook, Federal Reserve Board member
Latitia James Attorney General, New York
Ketanji Brown-Jackson, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Stacey Abrams, former Georgia State Representative
Jasmine Crockett, Texas State Representative

Continue reading The Realities of Dark-Skinned Black Women – by Terry Howard →

Advisors, Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity

Legacy Museum and the Institution of Slavery – by Terry Howard

Let this sink in before you move on!

Call me stuck in stereotypes, a time warp, “la la” land or whatever, but when I peered out the windshield at the sign “Welcome to Montgomery,” well the truth is that my racial anxieties set in, emotions no different than those when we first approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing into Selma a few years ago. My knowledge of history and caution kicked in so I decided to make sure we adhered to local speed limits.

Okay, to be honest, when I think about Montgomery, Alabama, I think about Rosa Park and her refusal to take a back seat on a bus that led to a yearlong boycott and the rise into preeminence of its chief architect, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I thought about Governor George Wallace’s “segregation now, segregation forever” failed promise. Now all that doesn’t make me delusional; no, it makes me wary. 

So, with that as an entre, this narrative is about our recent visit to the Legacy Museum in Montgomery and the nearby Freedom Monument Sculpture Park and National Museum of Peace and Justice. 

Continue reading Legacy Museum and the Institution of Slavery – by Terry Howard →

Authors A-H, Race & Ethnicity, Teams & Leaders

Building Belonging at the Intersections of Identity and Leadership – by Khris Baizen

As industries evolve to meet the needs of a changing workforce, the value of diverse leadership has never been more clear. This is especially true during Asian American Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month, which invites us to examine the intersection of identity and leadership. In navigating cultural expectations, neurodiversity, and generational shifts, leaders today are called not just to manage teams—but to create spaces where people feel they truly belong.