by Carmen Van Kerckhove

I was on “Radio in Black and White” this past Monday morning, on Grand Rapids’ Talk Radio AM 1230 WTKG. To listen, click the play button at the end of this post.

Among the things I talked about on the show:

• Diversity training doesn’t work. But organizations do it anyway because they care more about mitigating legal risk than eradicating discrimination.
• Much of diversity training is actually about teaching people to hide their racism, not educating them to overcome their racism.
• Many organizations focus on “celebrating” diversity through events like ethnic food potlucks. But this kind of cultural tourism encourages people to turn a blind eye to racism by promoting the myth that we live in a happy-go-lucky, color-blind world.
• Why we need to eradicate oppression olympics: when communities of color fight over who has it worse, instead of recognizing that it’s all part of the same system.

Hope you enjoy it!