January 22 - 28, 2021
On June 19, 2020, I made a commitment to educate myself on the
lingering effects of racism, discrimination, and bias in America. Every
day through June 18, 2021, I will read an article or book chapter,
listen to a
podcast, watch a movie or documentary, view a webinar, or do something
substantive to educate myself in these areas. As part of that
commitment, I will post to this blog each Friday with a list of what
I've done over the past week as well as any pertinent thoughts or
reflections.
Today's post covers the week of January 22-28, 2021.
Mellody Hobson, President and co-CEO of Ariel Investments, uses this TED Talk to argue for what she calls "being color brave." While many people in America don't like to talk about race, the first step to any action is awareness. Through uncomfortable conversations, we can undo the idea of color blindness, a learned behavior where we pretend we don't notice race. Instead, let's learn to relax into our discomfort and deal with it. Hobson suggests we invite people into our life who don't look like us, don't think like us, don't act like us, and don't come from where we come from. That's her definition of color brave - inviting in people who will challenge your assumptions and might change your mind.
Cheryl Thompson of NPR investigates police shootings of unarmed Black men and women. Since 2015, at least 135 unarmed Black people have died at the hands of the police. Of the officers involved in those deadly shootings, 13 were charged with murder and two were found
guilty. A deeper look into the backgrounds of some of the officers reveals a history of previous disciplinary issues and fatal shootings.
Rice History Professor and Atlanta native Douglas Brinkley pens this piece for the New York Times about his boyhood hero and baseball Hall of Famer Henry Aaron, who died on January 22 at age 86. Brinkley interviewed Aaron this past November, where he talked about the threats he received while chasing Babe Ruth's record and the inspiration he took from Jackie Robinson.
The Wall Street Journal published this brief profile of Rosalind Brewer, current Starbucks executive and the former CEO of Sam's Club. Brewer is set to take over as CEO of Walgreens, which will make her the only Black woman currently in charge of a Fortune 500 company. Brewer successfully led Starbucks through the pandemic and was a key champion of diversity initiatives at Walmart.
Kirsten Ivey-Colson and Lynn Turner, co-founders of the Anti-Racist Table, share their insights on the core principles of anti-racism - education, intention, courage, individuality, humanity, anti-racist work, equality, empathy, allies, and love. The Anti-Racist Table offers a 30-day challenge, where you can sign up to receive a daily lesson, rooted in these principles, to put you on a path to anti-racism.
LEAD1, which is the professional organization of Division I-FBS athletics directors, chartered a working group last year tasked with strengthening diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in college athletics. As part of this working group, I partnered with several colleagues across the country to produce a white paper on DEI. We settled on ten recommendations on how to improve representation for marginalized groups within Division I-FBS administration. H/T to our co-chairs, Northern Illinois AD Sean Frazier and Wyoming senior associate AD China Jude, for their leadership.
In last week's blog, I summarized a few of the findings of Tony Jack's research from the book The Privileged Poor. On January 28, he appeared on a Zoom webinar as part of the Rice University President's Lecture Series. Jack spends the first 20 minutes or so summarizing the book, then engages in conversation with Rice Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman. He also answers some audience questions toward the end of the hour-long conversation. Please note - the webinar had not been archived at the time of my posting. Please check back in the next few days at the link above to view the archive.
Comments
Post a Comment