Resources
Session One: January 29, 2008
Reflecting on the Legacy of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action: Out of the Past, Into the Future
Why are Civil Rights and Affirmative Action relevant in 2008? What do they have to do with diversity and inclusion within your organization?
Presenters Professor James Gregory and Graduate Student Trevor Griffey, University of Washington History Project, creators of the Seattle Civil Rights Labor History Project, Seattle, WA, and Mic Crenshaw, Educator, Activist and Hip-Hop Artist, Portland, OR explored the answers to these questions, and many more that were specifically related to the history of discrimination in Washington State's Puget Sound Region.
The main focus of James and Trevor's portion was to highlight the specific struggle in Seattle and to illustrate the discrimination that persists today. The evaluations proved that many participants were actually surprised to find that discrimination ever did exist, much less still does exist in the Puget Sound Region.
The main focus of Mic's presentation was to integrate the social justice movement with the corporate world. His portion was highly entertaining and inspiring, as noted by the evaluations, and kept the audience engaged and moved with his poetry and hip-hop.
Progression:
Gregory and Griffey spent the first part of the morning detailing the history of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action in WA State, discussing racial restrictive covenants in the Seattle area, the differences between Northern segregation and Southern segregation, and the legislation that occurred along the way that resulted in Affirmative Action. They also detailed the discrimination and stereotypes in WA State that still persist to this day.
So why does discrimination persist?
Discrimination may not be as overt as it used to be, but because of hiring practices and a perceived equality in the workplace, discrimination flourishes. James and Trevor explained three types if hiring that assist in the perpetuation of discrimination: Stereotype hiring, Network hiring and Compatibility hiring. Employers continually hire people they think fit a stereotype (or don't hire, based on a perceived stereotype), people they know, and people they think are like them. Additionally, advertising abounds that portrays an environment of equality, so while 61 percent of whites believe that blacks have achieved the same job opportunities as whites, just 12 percent of blacks concurred.
Hip-hop and dialogue
Following a discussion on discrimination specific to the Puget Sound Region, Crenshaw proceeded to entertain the participants with poetry and hip-hop on racial tensions in the current day world.
Participants then had the opportunity to split into dialogue groups, led by leaders with some experience in the Civil Rights arena. Mic introduced dialogue group leaders, who included: Aaron Dixon, Seattle Black Panthers Party co-founder; Mary Bogan, one of the first students integrated into Southern Mississippi University; Vivian Caver, Civil Rights Activist and one of the first employees of color to work at a department store in Seattle; Donna Stringer, Dialogue facilitator and diversity consultant; George Monagan and Trevor Griffey, Affirmative Action trainer and graduate student, respectively; and Julie Nelson, Director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR).
The purpose of the dialogue groups was is to share experiences and views in order to better understand each other. Dialogue is not a debate where the purpose is to persuade and win. Participants used the following guidelines to help them in their conversations:
- Ask "help me understand" questions, not "why did you think that" questions.
- Explore multiple explanations: diverge before you converge.
- Seek to understand fully before judging. Dialogue does involve defending your views or dismissing others' views as invalid or wrong.
- Remember that values underlie people's views and decisions. Seek to understand the context within which a decision is or was made, that is, what value(s) are or were operating.
- Stop talking so that you can listen—do not interrupt, no matter how hard this may be.
- Concentrate on both WHAT people saying and HOW they are saying it, be sure you understand both the content and the feelings people are expressing.
- Watch for nonverbal signals that are consistent or inconsistent with the person's verbal message
- Paraphrase for understanding - restate the ideas/feelings in your own words and ask if you have accurately understood. Do not add to or evaluate their message. Be brief.
- Make others feel you are fully attentive with your facial expression, eye contact, body language and your nonverbal communication.
- Allow sufficient time for the dialogue - and take a break when it appears that you are either (a) repeating yourselves, (b) getting too "engaged" to listen, (c) getting too tired to listen, or (d) need time to process what you have already heard.
Adapted from guidelines developed by Donna Stringer, Executive Diversity Services for the NW Diversity Learning Series, 2002, and by Leslie Aguilar, International Training and Development, LLC, 2003.
After the participants split into dialogue groups for the first time, they had the opportunity to switch and dialogue with a new group and new group leader. This gave the participants the opportunity to learn from different people who were actually involved in the early and continuing efforts of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action in America.
Where to now?
Because of the practices that continue to persist, it's apparent that the challenges of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action continue to be of importance. We can take current-day income tiers to show how the efforts of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action are to this day not realized. Currently, white males make the most income, followed by a sharp drop in income earned by black males, Latino males and Asian males. Following men of color is the women income bracket, with white women and women of color earning relatively the same. The numbers say it all - the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement and Affirmative Action are still critical to equal the playing field.
Given the information that was provided by James, Trevor, and Mic, participants were given the opportunity to explore options for continuing their learning, as well as continuing the struggle for equal rights and opportunity. Following is a brief list of ideas:
Educate yourself on the realities of the current-day environment of discrimination in your area, both at home and at work. For Seattleites, visit the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History website (http://depts.washington.edu/civilr). Talk with people in your area to find out what efforts are developing to end discrimination. If there are none, start a website of your own to educate others!
Practice the dialogue skills provided above so you can effectively converse with others about hot issues like Civil Rights and Affirmative Action.
Talk with co-workers and your manager to develop an initiative within your organization that incorporates lessons learned from the history of Civil Rights and Affirmative Action efforts.
Session One was the first of the 10th annual 2008 NW Diveristy Learning Series - Leveraging the tensions of diversity: Igniting sparks of opportunity. The Series, held in Seattle, WA, is organized by The GilDeane Group, publishers of DiversityCentral.com.
Presenters were Professor James Gregory and Graduate Student Trevor Griffey, University of Washington History Project, creators of the Seattle Civil Rights Labor History Project, Seattle, WA, and Mic Crenshaw, Educator, Activist and Hip-Hop Artist, Portland, OR
Session Six: Thu, Nov 13, 2008
Confronting Global Diversity: Imagining a Wide Circle of Inclusion
Patricia Digh
David Robinson