He Said, She Said: Perspectives on Daily Living in Black and White, Lucky Church

How many levels of judgment do you experience before you even speak? Starting with a visit to the doctor’s office,  Lucky and Deanna share their honest perspectives on daily living in the US, as a Black man and a White woman. Who is Lucky Church? Lucky is a Partner/PR Director at SMF Global and Director of Client Relations…

What Stands Between Us, Diversity Conversation Flash Cards

How many levels of judgment do you experience before you even speak? Starting with a visit to the doctor’s office, Lucky and Deanna share their honest perspectives on daily living in the US, as a Black man and a White woman. Lucky and Deanna will ask each other questions and share personal experiences, and also…

Yoga, Connection, at I Grow Chicago Peace House

Whenever I teach yoga I always leave feeling taller and calmer, standing proud with beautiful posture, thinking only positive thoughts about the world and all of its people. “You must be in a hurry,” I smile at the person cutting me off on my drive home. “Go ahead.” Have you ever wondered, “Hmmm…what if everyone…

Beyond Liking on Facebook: Taking Action for Social Change and The Montessori School of Englewood

Below are two stories, one about taking action for social change (like really taking action—not just liking something on Facebook) and the other story is about how media can perpetuate negative stereotypes (and how important it is to see something firsthand before passing judgment.)  Both stories are interwoven here because 1.) The stories converge, albeit…

The Race Test: I am White

White Tim White talks a lot about White Privilege, White Peggy McIntosh is well-known for “Unpacking the White Knapsack” about what it means to be white, and most recently, White Mikhail Lyubansky, professor of Psychology at the University of Illinois, takes a stab at the notion in his article on psychologytoday.com, “Going Where Glenn Beck…

Bat Mitzvah’s and Adopted Babies from Korea: How We Learn and Pass-on Culture

Between a Bat Mitzvah (Jewish coming of age ceremony, Bat for girl, Bar for boy) on Saturday and a conversation at lunch yesterday that exposed multiple unconsicous assumptions of mine, I seem to have race, bias, and interculturalism on the brain, and in particular the idea of how culture is passed-on from one generation to the…

Swapping Races to Reveal Unconscious Bias and Privilege

  I need to go take a shower. I just caught myself talking to my husband’s kindly Indian colleague over the phone like he was an idiot, plus I read this article by Tim Wise “Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black,” and realized I am guilty. (This is a must read!) One, because looking…

Why Anthropology?

The “olden days” of diversity training started with “the other.” It assumed a majority culture norm, and defined everyone else in contrast to the norm. “This group behaves this way. This group behaves that way.”  The anthropological approach gives each group ‘hegemony,’ the power to exist in its own right. It recognizes the inherent value…