REALTalk: A Few Resources on Race & Equity

Earlier this year, we issued a statement in response to the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the five officers in Dallas: Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens, and Michael J. Smith. We also asked the alums community what resources you are using, or in need of, to bring Americans together to strengthen our communities. This work is important to our core mission and also closely tied to Alums’ new Talent and Equity Initiative. We want to make sure we are “getting things done” by being inclusive in our work.

We want to thank the many of you who shared resources and the ideas you have about how we can better support alumni in leading our communities towards unity, equity, and opportunity.

Here, we share some of the resources you suggested.  In the coming months, we’ll continue to share additional resources in our newsletter, on our blog and on FaceBook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We invite you to look for the #REALTalk hashtag (REALTalk stands for Race, Equity, Alums as Leaders) and continue to share and comment on our posts.  You can also submit a blog about your experiences and perspectives.

Here are a few of the suggested resources from the Alums network related to race, equity, and inclusion:

Radiolab (Shea Walsh)

• READ The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness a book by Michelle Alexander. “Once in a great while a book comes along that changes the way we see the world and helps to fuel a nationwide social movement.”
• WATCH Why I Keep Speaking Up Even When People Mock My Accent. “When YouTube commenters started mocking his Pakistani accent, it crushed Artist Safwat Saleem, and his voice began to leave his work. Hear how this TED Fellow reclaimed his voice and confidence in this charming, thoughtful talk.”
• READ White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh and use her Notes for Facilitators. “Peggy McIntosh’s papers on White Privilege are the ones most cited on the subject around the world…. [her notes for facilitators] offer suggestions for how to use this work in a classroom or other group setting.”
• READ America Has a Big Race Problem by Jeff Nesbit. This U.S. News & World Report piece shares, “When it comes to racial bias, nurture trumped nature quite some time ago.”
• LISTEN Dealing with Workplace Sexism – What Would a Feminist Do? Jessica Valenti is joined by Feminist Fight Club author Jessica Bennett to discuss how to navigate difficult employers and “bropropriator” colleagues
•  READ White People Think Racism is Getting Worse. Against White People by Samuel Sommers and Michael Norton. This Washington Post piece shares research that “whites think anti-white bias is more of a problem than anti-black bias.”
•  WATCH What Do You Think When You Look at Me? “In this personal, powerful Ted talk, Muslim scholar Dalia Mogahed asks us, in this polarizing time, to fight negative perceptions of her faith in the media — and to choose empathy over prejudice.”
•  READ How to Fight Imposter Syndrome in the Workplace by Dom “You are more than competent, yet somehow you struggle to internalize your greatness at work.”

Thank you so much for sharing these TED talks, articles, podcasts, news forums, blogs, books, and tool-kits! We greatly appreciate it and look forward to engaging more with all of you about how together we can build a safer, stronger and more equitable communities.