So a representative from my Alderman’s office called the other night to ask for my vote in her reelection. “Overall I’m satisfied with her work for our ward and plan to vote for her,” I said, “but there is one thing that I just wanted to share that really bothered me. It was a phone…
(Read in English) Caros Colegas, Que tal juntar-se aos capítulos Illinois e São Paulo da Partners of the Americas e a Brazil in Chicago, em um novo evento nas Américas, na iciativa: Transformação do Paradigma Racial: Discussões e Ação para inspirar a mudança nos EUA e no BRASIL (2012) Previsto para meados de Novembro de 2012, este evento de…
(Leia em Português) How would you like to join the Illinois and Sao Paulo Chapters of Partners of the Americas and Brazil in Chicago in a new event across the Americas, committed to Transforming the Racial Paradigm: Discussions and Action to Inspire Change across the US and BRAZIL (2012). Slated for mid-November 2012, this week…
I was talking to a good friend, a man of color, a leader in the field of diversity, intercultural competence, engagement and inclusion. He told a moving story of being inspired as a child by his dad, who jumped to enlist in the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but then faced spitting in…
When I first saw the Duncan Hines Hip Hop Cup Cake ad last month, I first wondered why advertisers would make food geared to kids so creepy (a la the Cinnamon Toast Crunch cannibal ads); and that the icing would never work…the microwave would make it too gooey or too hot to be practical. As…
Comedian Elon James White’s take on Pool Racism In intercultural communications, the emphasis is on cultural understanding and appreciating that sometimes people might unintentially offend because of unconscious bias. Such was not the case with 60 African American children who were kicked out of a pool at a private club in Philadelphia, being told that…
I like the clear distinction hip hopper Jay Smooth makes in this video blog “How to Tell People They Sound Racist” between “what you did” and “who you are.” It offers, at least in my mind, a good entre to acknowledge unconscious bias as well. The hard part about calling one’s own unconscious bias…
Photo credit: Gerald Herbert (from NPR and PR reports) Let us never doubt the critical importance of any and all efforts, big or small, to combat prejudice and racism. As the shooting today at the Holocaust Museum in DC confirms, both are still rampant.
Sometimes I think the best way to avoid perpetuating racial or cultural stereotypes in advertising is to purposely mix it up, which is why I liked the new “Let a Stranger Take You Home” ad for Heineken by Wieden + Kennedy, Portland. The spot opens with an Asian looking young man singing along to a…
When looking at metrics to support training for communicating to people from different countries, it’s easy. There’s a very clear cut set of rules. You learn specific customs (e.g. don’t show the bottom of your shoe when sitting with legs crossed in Pakistan, exchange business cards with two hands in Japan, etc.); you go to…
