Towards a Culture of Inclusion – Resources
Third Conversation on Race: Where Do We Go From Here?
June 23, 2021
“I firmly believe that every time you support someone else, whatever the level of support, it is meaningful and can have a positive impact on their career.” This Chambers interview with several Latham lawyers reminds us that, “A culture of inclusion requires us all to be allies and supporters for each other.”
Read the Interview
Five Allyship Basics are offered in this report of a panel discussion on “How To Be an Effective Antiracism Ally in the Legal Profession,” sponsored by the Boston Bar Association in June 2020.These five basics will be familiar to our Ally-Ready Training Program participants:
More on these and a terrific list of resources
“Last year law firms sent out announcements about their commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. One of the initiatives firms stated they implemented is a formal allyship program. However, allyship is not a program or a mindset. It is a verb.” Read more.
In this piece, Evan Parker describes the credibility gap between public pronouncements by law firms and law departments and action to advance diversity and inclusion and describes the hallmarks of a credible commitment to diversity. Quoting Randall Kiser, he states: “‘When no system exists to implement an espoused firm goal, as often occurs with diversity and inclusion efforts, that goal is functionally inconsequential and intended to be overlooked and eventually forgotten.’” Kiser, American Law Firms in Transition
“[I]f a company was facing challenges with sales, it wouldn’t respond by holding a series of sincere conversations about how much we all value sales and put on programming for ‘National Celebrate Sales Month’ and expect sales to improve. But that’s a lot of what we’re doing in the diversity context. If we really want to tackle diversity effectively, we need to use the same tools businesses use to tackle any business problem — evidence and metrics.” Here’s Joan Williams of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, whom the New York Times has described as a rock star of DE&I work.
Know Thyself, Know Others: Discover the Power of Deep Connections to Create Engaging Work Environments
May 18 and May 20, 2021
Below are the slides used by our presenters, Dr. Abdesalam Soudi of the University of Pittsburgh’s Linquistics Department and Dr. Jeannette South-Paul, retired head of the Department of Family Medicine in the University of Pittsburgh’s Medical School. The last slide is a list of references to materials used in the course of Dr. Soudi’s and Dr. South-Paul’s presentation.
View the Presentation Slides
More on Milton J. Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS)
Learn More About DMIS
This article by Dr. Soudi talks about his use of the culture box exercise in the classroom and what’s in his own culture box:
First Person: What’s in Your Culture Box?
The ABA’s Section on Real Property, Trusts and Estates offers this article particularly for trusts and estates lawyers, but with applicability well beyond that group of lawyers, as its title — Cultural Competence in the Practice of Law in the 21st Century — suggests. It is particularly good for a practitioner who is perhaps just beginning to think about the steps they must take to become more culturally competent for their clients.
Read the Article
Culture is often described as the combination of a body of knowledge, a body of belief and a body of behavior. Culture not only refers to a person’s superficial features, such as their appearance, but also to a person’s identity, language, thoughts, communications, actions, customs, beliefs, values, and institutions that are often specific to ethnic, racial, religious, geographic, or social groups.
Cultural Competency in the Practice of Law
Covering: Including – and Retaining – the Diversity You Hire
April 6, 2021
Uncovering talent; a new model of inclusion
Diversity and inclusion aren’t what matter. Belonging is what counts.
Yoshino collaborator, Christie Smith, gives a powerful TedX Talk that takes us inside the stories of four individuals covering at work, including her own heart-stopping story, and challenges leaders to create the culture that allows employees to stop spending so much energy — working what is, in essence, a second full-time job, according to Smith — hiding who they are.
Help Your Employees Be Themselves at Work
Identity covering at work—a majority phenomenon
The words diversity, inclusion and belonging are nowhere to be found in this highly entertaining, 12-minute TedTalk by happiness scholar Shawn Achor. However, what he is saying directly relates to the topic of inclusion and belonging, which directly relates to the topic of engagement, which directly relates to the topic of success, on both individual and organization levels.
Lightning Training #2
Microaggressions: Small Acts, Big Consequences
March 19, 2021
A Guide to Responding to Microaggressions
How racism and microaggressions lead to worse health
5 Seemingly Harmless Remarks Black Women Are Tired Of Hearing
Videos:
Little Lesson on Microaggressions with Dr. Monica Smith of Augustana College
Microaggression in Everyday Life, with Dr. Derald Wing Sue of Columbia University
How microaggressions are like mosquito bites (Language advisory)
Lightning Training #1
The Words We Use in the D&I Conversation
February 24, 2021
Key Terms Used in the D&I Conversation and What They Mean
Second Conversation on Race: Race in the Legal Community
January 19, 2021
The 3 Elements of a Constructive Conversation – bhasin consulting inc.
The 10 R’s of Talking About Race: How to Have Meaningful Conversations
New research published by Catalyst documents the “Emotional Tax”paid by women and men of color in the workplace and offers strategies for reducing and eliminating it.
New Research on Workplace Emotional Tax and Four Strategies for Change
Conversations about race are necessary if our workplaces are going to be truly inclusive but are often avoided because we are afraid of saying the wrong thing. Here’s a list of the six “greatest hits”of things not to say in such conversations and some suggestions for how to keep your conversations on track.
Phrases to Avoid Using in Conversations About Race
If you want to continue the conversation in your firm or law department, this article by the National Day of Racial Healing suggests the way to set the stage for a constructive exchange.
Talking about Racism, Racial Equity and Racial Healing with Friends, Family, Colleagues and Neighbors
New York Times bestseller: So you want to talk about race, by Ijeoma Oluo. Order it from and support a Black-owned local business.
ABA published: What If I Say the Wrong Thing; 25 Habits for Culturally Effective Peopleby VernāA. Myers. Buy the book or e-book from the ABA.
Bias-Interruption Training by Dr. Will Cox
November 17 and 19, 2020
Do you have uncommon biases? The most widely used measure of implicit bias along a variety of dimensions is the Implicit Association Test (IAT), developed by social psychologists Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji in the 1990s. Take it here.
Starbucks used this short video to train its hundreds of thousands of employees about racial bias.
PwC has a series of terrific videos on what they call “Blind Spots.”
Challenge Assumptions
Overcome Stereotypes
Enhance Objectivity
Broaden Perspectives
Studies/Reports:
According to this study by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhill Mullainathan, “[identical] applicants with white-sounding names are 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with African-American-sounding names.” Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination, 94 American Economic Rev. 991 (Sept. 2004).
In this study by Dr. Arin Reeves, who spoke to the Coalition in 2019 about behavioral interviewing, identical memos written by hypothetical African-American and white individuals had substantially different feedback resulting from bias associated with race. Written in Black & White: Exploring Confirmation Bias in Racialized Perceptions of Writing Skills
This study, “You Can’t Change What You Can’t See: Interrupting Gender and Racial Bias,” a report by the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession, includes these (and other) findings:
- Women lawyers of color were eight times more likely than white men to report that they had been mistaken for janitorial staff, administrative staff, or court personnel. ·
- 80% of white men, but only 63% of white women, 59% of men of color, and 53% of women of color reported that they had equal opportunities for high-quality assignments.
More Resources:
Women in the Law Division of the Allegheny County Bar Association Implicit Bias Resources
First Conversation on Race: Race in Our Community
October 14, 2020
Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race, a report of the City of Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission (Howell, Goodkind, Jacobs, Branson, Miller)
City of Pittsburgh Gender Equity Commission: Building an Equitable New Normal: Responding to the Crises of Racist Violence and COVID-19
Yes, Pittsburgh: it’s racism, by Junia Howell, lead author of Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race; Public Source, September 23, 2019
Pittsburgh Is the Worst City in America for Black People. Here’s How It Can Get Better, by Damon Young, Pittsburgher, author, and editor-in-chief of Very Smart Brothas
For Black Girls, School Discipline Doesn’t Always Look Like Justice, by Erica L. Green, Mark Walker and Eliza Shapiro, The New York Times, October 2, 2020
Discipline disparities between Black and White boys have driven reform efforts. But Black girls are arguably the most at-risk student groups.
The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Atlantic, 2014
There are a number of popular books that touch on subjects raised in this session. Here’s a sample:
The Color of Law (Liveright, May 2017) by Richard Rothstein
In this book, Rothstein argues that segregation in America—the incessant kind that continues to dog our major cities and has contributed to so much recent social strife—is the byproduct of explicit government policies at the local, state, and federal levels.
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
Desmond, a MacArthur “genius award” recipient, follows eight families in Milwaukee, a city not unlike Pittsburgh, as they navigate housing in some of the city’s poorest neighborhoods during the 2007-08 recession. 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner.
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander
Alexander, a former civil rights litigator, reveals how millions of African-Americans have been locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status.
Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Wilkerson illuminates the unspoken system of human ranking in the United Stated and reveals how we are confronting the same divisions today that have dogged us for centuries.
PLDIC Leaders Webinar — As an Ally, How Can You Interrupt Racial Bias in the Workplace?
Ritu Bhasin
September 15, 2020
Tip Sheets:
4 Ways to Provide Meaningful Allyship in the Workplace
5 Things You Can Do to Interrupt Racial Bias in the Wake of COVID-19
Bias Worksheets:
Identify Your Biases
Understand How Bias Affects You
Shield Against Bias Coming Your Way
e-Guide:
Cultivating Inclusion During Crisis, Including Working Remotely
Videos:
The Three Things That Happen With Bias — And What to Do About Them
What is White Supremacy?
Blog Post:
5 Things You Can Do to Be a Better Ally
Books:
Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and Become a Good Ancestor by Layla F. Saad
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
The Authenticity Principle by Ritu Bhasin
Workbook:
Dismantling Racism Works Web Workbook
Report:
Sponsor Effect: Canada Executive Summary
Meditation:
“See Through Unconscious Bias” with Sebene Selassie
PLDIC Lawyers of Color Webinar — The Internalization of Racial Bias: What Happens in the Workplace
Ritu Bhasin
September 15, 2020
Bias Worksheets:
Identify Your Biases
Understand How Bias Affects You
Shield Against Bias Coming Your Way
Videos:
Change Your Life Through the Power of Scripting
Videos on Being an Advocate for Equity
Self-Care Worksheets:
Commit to a Self-Care Practice
Create Your Own Affirmations
Blog Post:
6 Simple Mindfulness Techniques You Can Do Anywhere
Books:
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
The Authenticity Principle by Ritu Bhasin
Robin DiAngelo
In conversation with Valerie Kinloch, Dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. Co-presented by City Theatre and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
September 10, 2020
Watch the Conversation