Cart
0
0.00 CAD

Self Help

Moving Beyond Unconscious Bias

04/10/2024

I'm going to have to call B.S. at this point about the two year flurry of unconscious bias training courses. First off, experts have determined them to be ineffective. Now think about how much money and lost time hosting one of these events for your employees cost. And it is probably racist as all get out. Do you invite...

Blog post with formatting tips for you

04/05/2024

The introductory paragraph gives readers the main idea of what they can expect. It can be also used as a short preview in the blog post list. Different formatting will help it stand out from the rest of the texts. Read further to see how can you format your blog posts.

This is a blog post with images

04/05/2024

Images add a perfect touch to your blog posts and attract readers to open them. The first image from your content will be automatically used as a blog post thumbnail, so the right opening image can increase the attractiveness of your article.

This is a simple blog post

04/05/2024

Short and simple blog posts are the best way to keep your visitors in the loop. Exciting introductory paragraph and a brief, informative content will ensure that your readers will keep coming for more news.

Diversity Equity Inclusion Accessibility: A Reading List


Why DEI Fails: Reference these if your executive team is not taking responsibility for missing DEI KPIs. It's them, not you.

Brown, Ahmmad. "Blaming The DEI Industry For Failures Misses The Point." Forbes. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ahmmadbrown/2023/06/07/blaming-the-dei-industry-for-failures-misses-the-point/.

Manager, Ask a. "My Coworker's White Fragility Is Getting in the Way of DEI Discussions, and Other Questions about Race." Ask a Manager, November 15, 2023. https://www.askamanager.org/2023/11/my-coworkers-white-fragility-is-getting-in-the-way-of-dei-discussions-and-other-questions-about-race.html.


News, A. B. C. "How Corporate America Is Slashing DEI Workers amid Backlash to Diversity Programs." ABC News. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://abcnews.go.com/US/corporate-america-slashing-dei-workers-amid-backlash-diversity/story?id=100477952. OHF WEEKLY. 


"Why Organizations Fail at DEI," December 13, 2023. https://www.ohfweekly.org/why-organizations-fail/. Zheng, Lily. "The Failure of the DEI-Industrial Complex." Harvard Business Review, December 1, 2022. https://hbr.org/2022/12/the-failure-of-the-dei-industrial-complex. 


Addressing Performative DEI

Feel like your DEI initiatives are further alienating you as a BIPOC employee, unsupported and leaving you exhausted? You are not alone.


Brownlee, Dana. "This Is Why Corporate DEI Tragically Fails Many Black Professionals." Forbes. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2022/08/11/this-is-why-corporate-dei-tragically-fails-many-black-professionals/. 


Dennery, Dominic. "The Case of the Crying CEO: How to Avoid the Common Pitfalls When Addressing Racism in the Workplace." Accessed April 23, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/case-crying-ceo-how-avoid-common-pitfalls-when-racism-dennery/. 

Grant, Geremy. "What Is Racial Battle Fatigue? A School Psychologist Explains." The Conversation, January 11, 2023. https://theconversation.com/what-is-racial-battle-fatigue-a-school-psychologist-explains-192493. 


Idowu, Forence. "Diversity Fatigue: Addressing Burnout in DEI Efforts," 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/diversity-fatigue-addressing-burnout-dei-efforts/. 


Quaye, Stephen John, Shamika N. Karikari, Courtney Rashad Allen, Wilson Kwamogi Okello, and Kiaya Demere Carter. "Strategies for Practicing Self-Care from Racial Battle Fatigue." Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE) 5, no. 2 (2019): 95–131. 


Smith, William A., Man Hung, and Jeremy D. Franklin. "Racial Battle Fatigue and the MisEducation of Black Men: Racial Microaggressions, Societal Problems, and Environmental Stress." The Journal of Negro Education 80, no. 1 (2011): 63–82. 


Willingham, Shelley. "The Root Cause Of Diversity, Equity And Inclusion Burnout, And How To Fight It." Forbes. Accessed April 21, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/08/16/the-root-cause-of-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-burnout-and-how-to-fight-it/.

White Supremacy and Corporate Culture

This is probably the topic that causes the most push-back.
"I'm a good person," reflects the confusion between White supremacy and self image.* We live in a society that is shaped by and for White people. The normal way is a synonym for the way White people do it. Thus human nature being what it is, people tend to surround themselves with like, which then isolates "the other." The other topics listed here directly reflect the problems obvious to BIPOC staff, who dare not push back. Who would? Every other person in the room for that conversation will likely be White, probably a middle-aged woman who reflects a previous era of diversity hires, and who knows what side their bread is buttered on, and it isn't yours.
If you are White and your DEI initiatives aren't working out how you expected, there is probably a paper in this list that highlights problem behaviors holding your organization back.

Ajunwa, Ifeoma. "The 'Black Box' at Work." Big Data & Society 7 (July 1, 2020): 205395172096618. https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951720938093. Anti-Racism Daily. "White Savior Complex." Accessed April 20, 2024. https://antiracismdaily.com/glossary/white-savior-complex/. 


Asare, Janice Gassam. "What Is White Saviorism And How Does It Show Up In Your Workplace?" Forbes. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2022/09/30/what-is-white-saviorism-and-how-does-it-show-up-in-your-workplace/. 


Brooks, Rachel. "The Link Between Race and Power: White Women in Non-Profit Leadership, a Discussion with Michelle Gislason." The Prosperity Agenda (blog), May 23, 2019. https://theprosperityagenda.org/2019/05/23/white-women-in-non-profit-leadership-michelle-gislason/. 


Ford, Nishani. "Power and Racism in the Workplace." Oxfam International, March 12, 2022. https://www.oxfam.org/en/blogs/power-and-racism-workplace. 


Gray, Aysa. "The Bias of 'Professionalism' Standards (SSIR)," 2019. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_bias_of_professionalism_standards. "Identifying and Addressing Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture." University of Michigan. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/inclusive-teaching/wp-content/uploads/sites/853/2021/12/Identifying-and-Addressing-Characteristics-of-White-Supremacy-Culture.pdf. 


Jones, Kenneth, and Tema Okun. "White Supremacy Culture." Ninnesota Historical Society. Accessed April 14, 2024. https://www.thc.texas.gov/public/upload/preserve/museums/files/White_Supremacy_Culture.pdf. 


Karol, Jared. "The Alienating Effects of White Solidarity." Accessed April 17, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/alienating-effects-white-solidarity-jared-karol-he-him-/. 


Lindsay, James. "White Solidarity." New Discourses, November 9, 2022. https://newdiscourses.com/tftw-white-solidarity/. Lindsay.Majer. "White Women Doing White Supremacy in Nonprofit Culture." Tzedek Social Justice Fund, August 12, 2019. https://tzedeksocialjusticefund.org/white-women-doing-white-supremacy-in-nonprofit-culture/. 


Mahendra, Megha. "White Saviorism in the Nonprofit World." Medium (blog), July 26, 2023. https://medium.com/@meghamahendra/white-saviorism-in-the-nonprofit-world-3b3067ab6c67. 


McDonald. "The Racism of the 'Hard-to-Find' Qualified Black Candidate Trope (SSIR)," 2021. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_racism_of_the_hard_to_find_qualified_black_candidate_trope. 


Molotch, Harvey. "Death on the Roof: Race and Bureaucratic Failure." Items (blog). Accessed April 17, 2024. https://items.ssrc.org/understanding-katrina/death-on-the-roof-race-and-bureaucratic-failure/.


Muri, Michelle Shireen. "Rewind: White Women as Gatekeepers with Fleur Larsen." The Ethical Rainmaker. Accessed April 17, 2024. https://www.theethicalrainmaker.com/1/post/2021/04/s2e5-rewind-white-women-as-gatekeepers-with-fleur-larsen.html. 


Murphy, Colleen. "White Savior Complex Is a Harmful Approach to Providing Help—Here's Why." Health. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://www.health.com/mind-body/health-diversity-inclusion/white-savior-complex. 


Nnawulezi, Dr Nkiru. "The Overrepresentation of White Women's Leadership in the Movement to End Gender-Based Violence," n.d. Reid, Maryann. "What Happens When White Women Become The Face Of Diversity." Forbes. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryannreid/2020/02/18/what-happens-when-white-women-become-the-face-of-diversity/. 


"Serve Colorado ACGMI - Unpacking White Saviorism 7.13.21.Pdf." Accessed April 20, 2024. https://servecolorado.colorado.gov/sites/servecolorado/files/documents/Serve%20Colorado%20ACGMI%20-%20Unpacking%20White%20Saviorism%207.13.21.pdf. 


Smith, Mychal Denzel. "The Gatekeepers: The Art of Persuasion in the Age of Trump." Harper's Magazine. Accessed April 17, 2024. https://harpers.org/archive/2018/12/the-burden-of-the-black-public-intellectual/. 


Waldman, Katy. "A Sociologist Examines the 'White Fragility' That Prevents White Americans from Confronting Racism." The New Yorker, July 23, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-sociologist-examines-the-white-fragility-that-prevents-white-americans-from-confronting-racism. 


Watson-Creed, Gaynor. "Gaslighting in Academic Medicine: Where Anti-Black Racism Lives." CMAJ 194, no. 42 (October 31, 2022): E1451–54. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.212145. 


Yazeed, Carey. "Why Is Karen Doing The Diversity Training: White Women Profiting in the DEI Space – Dr. Carey Yazeed." Accessed March 10, 2024. https://drcareyyazeed.com/why-is-karen-doing-the-diversity-training-white-women-profiting-in-the-dei-space/.

 

*White is capitalized to reflect the elements of European culture that have and still exercise an inordinate level of decision making power. For example, the power to underfund a DEI initiative, hire unqualified people, proceed with a poorly designed plan and then avoid all accountability by managing the mostly Black and Brown DEI staff out of the organization, while leaving the White manager as the sole face of the office. 

This is a critique of poor systems and corporate culture and not people. If you are not a person of colour, reading some of these sources will help you see your organization the way your BIPOC employees do. If you are BIPOC reading these, you are probably wondering why you are in the position that you are still having to educate your colleagues, when some of the material has been available for decades.