|
"I ask that you use your privilege honorably."
- Cherie Buckner-Webb, WMFDP Associate and first African American in Idaho's House of Representatives
|
Public Events & Learning Labs
Register by calling 503-281-5585 or email info@wmfdp.com or visit wmfdp.com
|
|
|
|
Remembering Our Privilege
|
 | | Michael Welp, Ph.D., Co-founder, White Men as Full Diversity Partners |
Some time ago, Bill Proudman and I were traveling to a client when thunderstorms delayed our flights into Chicago. By the time we both arrived, it was late in the night and we were stranded far from our client. Our only option was to hire a taxi to take us on a five-hour odyssey through urban and rural America. The only taxi we could find had insulation falling out of the interior ceiling and the driver had never been outside his hometown in Illinois. We felt brave in our determination to reach our client at any cost.
Confident and proud, if not fully rested, we told of our adventure at the learning session the next morning. At the end of our story a woman raised her hand to say, "I would have never done that - I would never have gotten into a taxi with a stranger and ridden out into the night. And I would have hidden the truth from my colleagues, making an excuse for not arriving as planned so I wouldn't have to reveal my fear or be seen as not a team player. Telling the truth would make it look as if I wasn't up for the work."
Bill and I looked at each other and realized this was yet another example of our ability to travel with little concern for our safety. A privilege not generally afforded to women or people of color. With little awareness, we had benefited from being members of the dominant group - white, and male, and prosperous.
Bill and I gained a more valuable lesson that day: our learning is never done. We do this work for a living, yet we can forget our privileges because they continually surround us. As full partners, we can and must rely on each other to challenge and support our continued learning and awareness. We can together remember and re-remember our privilege and use it wisely.
|
Race & Racism in America: Are We Now a Colorblind Society?
| |
Hudson Institute's Bradley Center in Washington, DC recently hosted a panel discussion on the W.K. Kellogg Foundation's "America Healing" initiative and its intellectual underpinnings. The panel featured the Foundation's president and CEO Sterling Speirn and vice president of program strategy Dr. Gail Christopher, who presented viewpoints alongside Harvard Professor Stephan Thernstrom and Ron Christie, political strategist and author of Acting White: The Curious History of a Racial Slur. Bradley Center Director William Schambra moderated the discussion.
According to Dr. Christopher, the racial healing initiative reflects a belief that "our racialized social and opportunity structures have generated and continue to generate two consistent outcomes: privilege for some, and obstacles, pain and suffering for others." Acknowledging this fact, however painful, is the "beginning of the healing process." "In mandating that the W.K. Kellogg Foundation become an effective anti-racist organization," she wrote, "the Foundation's board of trustees acknowledged both the implicit benefits of white privilege and the Foundation's obligation to be responsive to the needs produced by centuries of structural racism."
Cherie Buckner-Webb, an associate with White Men as Full Diversity Partners, was a facilitator at the Foundation's recent conference, America Healing: Building the Field & Connecting the Leaders. White Men as Full Diversity Partners is privileged to have assisted the W. K. Kellogg Foundation since 2008.
Learn more about the Foundation's America Healing initiative. To view the full panel discussion, visit Race & Racism in America: Are We Now a Colorblind Society?
|
|
Save the Date: Bill Proudman to present at SHRM Diversity & Inclusion Conference
| |
Bill Proudman, White Men as Full Diversity Partners, and Joan Buccigrossi, Director of Inclusion & Engagement at Rockwell Automation, will co-present What Happens When White Male Leaders Get Truly Engaged: A Rockwell Automation Story
at the SHRM Diversity & Inclusion Conference October 24 - 26 in Washington DC. For more information, visit SHRM's conference website.
|
| We're grateful for our clients' courageous actions and persistence in doing the work that creates diversity partnerships and makes inclusive organizations a reality. Let us know your story. Tell us about the courageous leadership occurring right now in your organization. |
|
|
