RACE IN AMERICA
Inclusion > Diversity
Before we can even begin to think about inclusion we have to talk about bias and exclusion.
Bias
Biases exist. And we all have biases, good and bad. The people and things we like, we draw to us. The people and things we don’t like, we push away or avoid. We all do it. I prefer to sit near a wall as opposed to sitting in the middle of a restaurant, Pinot Grigio over chardonnay, and sitting anywhere on a JetBlue flight than sitting in coach on United airlines flights. (Way too little legroom on United. Rest assured, legroom most certainly matters even to the vertically challenged. Who doesn’t like comfort?)
And we all have biases that live in our blindspot. More often than not, we don’t realize those biases even exist until we’ve stepped ankle deep in a steaming pile of our own biases.
Fun.
When it comes to things like Chinese food versus Italian, Yankees versus Mets, or a vacation mountains versus the beach, nobody has a problem thinking about or owning their biases. But when we talk about biases in relation to people, everybody gets all freaked out. As well we should.
You know why?
