When I worked as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director I had a Caucasian student question an African American (Black) student about why we have Black History Month. The first student (Caucasian) asked the other how he would feel if we had a “White History Month?” As the African American student relayed the information to me, I thought, wow, is student number one serious, do they not understand why there is a need for “Black [...]
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. Martin Luther King Jr. Today as the nation recognizes the positive changes that Martin Luther King Jr. worked so hard to achieve; we must reflect on where our nation [...]
In 2016 then President Obama, through Presidential proclamation designated January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. As per the International Labor Organization an estimated that there are 40.3 million victims of human trafficking globally, with hundreds of thousands of victims in the U.S. This is not just a female issue as both men and women can be victims of human trafficking. Often when people think of human trafficking, they only think about sexual slavery but [...]
Transgender Day of Remembrance Each November 20th we remember those who were killed based solely on their sexual identity. Beginning in 1999 advocates began to mourn the loss of those who were victims of murder due to being gender non-conforming. The purpose of Transgender Day of Remembrance is to bring much needed attention to an epidemic in many parts of the world, the killing of innocent people due to the way they identify sexually. This [...]
Imagine being torn away from your family and placed with people you don’t know and who don’t necessarily even speak the same language as you? That is what happened to Indigenous (Native) children beginning in 1860. Our indigenous brothers and sisters have gone through hell and back all in the name of making them assimilate into a culture that was not one of their own choosing. Children were taken from their parents and often placed [...]
The numbers are striking: Within just three years, the College of Arts and Sciences at Emory University has more than tripled the proportion of faculty hires from underrepresented minority groups. How? We took many steps, but a key one was the increasingly popular, yet controversial, strategy of "cluster hiring." As a new hiring season gets underway across academe, we all are determined to diversify our faculties — both to meet student needs and to better [...]
