Why do people take to the streets for what they believe in, but they find it tough to get out of bed and onto the same road that leads them to work?
Out in the community, where people are already giving their time and energy freely, there are clues about what we need to do to foster this same enthusiasm and emotional commitment in our workforces. For example, any recent peaceful national protests, such as the 2017 Women’s Marchor Brexit, show people’s strong desire to have a voice and rise for a cause. At protests, participants have one thing in common: passion.
Where engagement goes, excitement flows. Consider the ways that volunteerism drives passion:
There’s a story that gets people talking about a cause worth rising for. Usually, there will be a point of view that gets people interested and talking to each other. People learn about the cause when it stirs their spirit.
There’s a feeling you need to do something. The story inspires people to consider how they can help; it’s a call to action. There’s a sense of urgency that something must happen.
There’s a champion who inspires you to get involved. Champions share information that gives others a deeper understanding of the cause. They help people connect with the right sources to take action. They help clear the way to make things happen.
Those moved to act mobilize one another. Volunteers spur one another on by adding to the story. They develop an affiliation, collaborate, and share a “together we’ll get there faster” attitude.
Progress inspires people to take action and go further. A well-worn path to success sparks more action. You can see that what you’re doing is being heard or having an impact.
You build your abilities as you experience new things. You learn from others and from everyone’s combined experience. As you develop new skills and add new experiences to your story, you build up your knowledge.
There’s a sense that your efforts have helped someone. Pretty soon, what you’re doing feels like a movement, which instills a sense of accomplishment. Friends, family, and your network recognize this, too. People think and say, “Wow, what a difference you’ve made!”
These seven facts underscore why volunteer-based charities and organizations have members with higher motivation. It’s not about the money; people believe in the work and want to make a difference. These three components—motivation, belief, and making a difference—are the key to engaging people’s hearts, and minds in a way that paid work has typically struggled to match.
When the same people who took to the streets clock into their salaried jobs the next day, the challenge for employers is to engender this same passion and purpose during work hours.
Turn vision into verbs
As the world spins ever more precariously forward and as our work world changes ever more rapidly, it’s worth revisiting your organization’s vision, purpose, and plans. Are you translating your vision into the verbs needed for today’s world? Are you articulating the company macro vision into your team’s micro vision? Does your company’s purpose need to change? Is it easily understood? Do you have a plan to stay true to your vision? Do people know how what they do each day contributes to these plans?
We must lead by example. We must regenerate our enthusiasm and a sense of purpose. Remember, as a leader, you’re the one who moves people to do remarkable things. You’re the “passion prophet,” not the passion police. You’re the person who must find ways to create enthusiasm in others, so they want to do remarkable things. Be the leader your people want you to be and watch your business results grow.
Why do people take to the streets for what they believe in, but they find it tough to get out of bed and onto the same road that leads them to work?
Out in the community, where people are already giving their time and energy freely, there are clues about what we need to do to foster this same enthusiasm and emotional commitment in our workforces. For example, any recent peaceful national protests, such as the 2017 Women’s Marchor Brexit, show people’s strong desire to have a voice and rise for a cause. At protests, participants have one thing in common: passion.
Where engagement goes, excitement flows. Consider the ways that volunteerism drives passion:
There’s a story that gets people talking about a cause worth rising for. Usually, there will be a point of view that gets people interested and talking to each other. People learn about the cause when it stirs their spirit.
There’s a feeling you need to do something. The story inspires people to consider how they can help; it’s a call to action. There’s a sense of urgency that something must happen.
There’s a champion who inspires you to get involved. Champions share information that gives others a deeper understanding of the cause. They help people connect with the right sources to take action. They help clear the way to make things happen.
Those moved to act mobilize one another. Volunteers spur one another on by adding to the story. They develop an affiliation, collaborate, and share a “together we’ll get there faster” attitude.
Progress inspires people to take action and go further. A well-worn path to success sparks more action. You can see that what you’re doing is being heard or having an impact.
You build your abilities as you experience new things. You learn from others and from everyone’s combined experience. As you develop new skills and add new experiences to your story, you build up your knowledge.
There’s a sense that your efforts have helped someone. Pretty soon, what you’re doing feels like a movement, which instills a sense of accomplishment. Friends, family, and your network recognize this, too. People think and say, “Wow, what a difference you’ve made!”
These seven facts underscore why volunteer-based charities and organizations have members with higher motivation. It’s not about the money; people believe in the work and want to make a difference. These three components—motivation, belief, and making a difference—are the key to engaging people’s hearts, and minds in a way that paid work has typically struggled to match.
When the same people who took to the streets clock into their salaried jobs the next day, the challenge for employers is to engender this same passion and purpose during work hours.
Turn vision into verbs
As the world spins ever more precariously forward and as our work world changes ever more rapidly, it’s worth revisiting your organization’s vision, purpose, and plans. Are you translating your vision into the verbs needed for today’s world? Are you articulating the company macro vision into your team’s micro vision? Does your company’s purpose need to change? Is it easily understood? Do you have a plan to stay true to your vision? Do people know how what they do each day contributes to these plans?
We must lead by example. We must regenerate our enthusiasm and a sense of purpose. Remember, as a leader, you’re the one who moves people to do remarkable things. You’re the “passion prophet,” not the passion police. You’re the person who must find ways to create enthusiasm in others, so they want to do remarkable things. Be the leader your people want you to be and watch your business results grow.
Dealing with prejudice—whether it’s microaggressions, bias, or discrimination—is physically and psychologically demanding. But avoiding it is not always an option.
“Not everyone has the luxury of leaving a prejudicial workplace or neighborhood,” said Natasha Thapar-Olmos, PhD, Program Director at OnlinePsychology@Pepperdine, the online Master of Arts in Psychology at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology. External link “But there might be things we can do and some tools to cope.”
What are those tools? Use this guide to understand where prejudice comes from, what it looks like, and how you can help others experiencing it.
What Is Prejudice?
Word choice matters. We often use words like prejudice, bias, and bigotry interchangeably, and there are aspects to each of these concepts that overlap. But when addressing prejudice, it’s important to understand some of the subtle distinctions.
To understand prejudice, we also need to understand stereotypes. A stereotype is an oversimplified and widely held standardized idea used to describe a person or group. A form of social categorization, stereotypes are a shortcut for the brain when grouping information. Categories of stereotypes include:
Positive Stereotypes: Beliefs perceived as favorable qualities for a group.
Helpful Stereotypes: Beliefs that assist people in rapidly responding to situations that are similar to past experiences.
Negative Stereotypes: Beliefs perceived as unfavorable qualities for a group.
Harmful Stereotypes: Beliefs that spur people to respond unfairly or incorrectly to situations because of their perceived similarity to past experiences.
Stereotypes can help lay the foundation for prejudice—a preconceived, unfair judgement toward a person, group, or identity. Prejudice is formed without sufficient evidence or reason and can be based on qualities such as these:
Race
Ethnicity
Nationality
Gender
Sexuality
Religion
Disability
Class
Age
Prejudice can dictate how people treat each other, resulting in any of the following:
Bias: an inclination, tendency, or particular perspective toward something; can be favorable or unfavorable. When bias occurs outside of the perceiver’s awareness, it is classified as implicit bias.
Microaggressions: an indirect, subtle, or unintentional comment or action that is prejudicial toward a marginalized group.
Bigotry: the intolerance of different opinions, beliefs, or ways of life.
Hate: disgust or contempt for another group that facilitates a desire for separation, strong emotions of fear or anger, and dehumanizing beliefs. Hate can take the form of:
Hate Speech: form of expression intended to attack or incite hatred of a class of persons.
Hate Crime: criminal offense motivated by a bias.
Hate Group: organization that attacks or condemns a class of people.
Discrimination: unfair and negative treatment different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.
Oppression: a cruel and unjust abuse of power that prevents people from having opportunities and freedom.
Although acts of hate can be a result of prejudice, prejudice does not require hate. Engaging in sexist behavior, for example, does not require an individual to be a misogynist. Prejudiced behavior can’t simply be viewed through the lens of interpersonal interactions; it must also be understood at an institutional and societal level. For example, anyone can be prejudiced against a person of another race. But understanding racism necessitates acknowledging who has historically been marginalized, who is privileged, and what power dynamics exist.
Elissa Buxbaum, director of campus affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, said they’ve noticed the trend, too. However, she points out that increases can be attributed to a few different things.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that more incidents were happening,” she said. “But it does mean that more people were reporting it and that more people were feeling comfortable to report.”
What Are the Health Effects of Prejudice?
Social determinants of health (SDOH) External link are the environmental factors that contribute to the well-being of communities and individuals. Some examples of such influences include access to educational opportunities, exposure to crime, and transportation options.
African American men living in poverty are almost three times as likely to die early than those living above the poverty line, according to a JAMA study on race and poverty as a risk. External link There is no difference for white men in and out of poverty.
On the individual level, prejudice can have direct health consequences. Just the anticipation of prejudice or discrimination can lead to cardiovascular and psychological stress responses, according to a 2011 AJPA study on discrimination and stress. External link Over time this can contribute to depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation or loneliness.
It can also lead to self-stigmatization.
“People of marginalized or discriminated groups can develop negative beliefs towards themselves,” Thapar-Olmos said. “That gets in the way of all kinds of things—relationships, functioning, recovery.”
How Can You Build Resilience Against Prejudice?
It is never your responsibility to educate someone who is hateful or discriminatory toward you.
Combating prejudice is the oxygen mask on an airplane, Thapar-Olmos explained. If you’re traveling with someone who requires assistance, place your own mask on first before helping the person next to you.
“If we’re not healthy and we’re not monitoring our own emotional reserves, then we’re not doing anyone else any favors,” she said. Thapar-Olmos recommends the framework below to start building internal resilience against prejudice and discrimination.
Face reality head-on. Denial can be powerful. Name and acknowledge your experiences, whether it is to a family member, friend, or counselor.
Make meaning out of experiences. How can we learn from these experiences? How can they inform us? “I think a lot of people find meaning in growing from pain by enriching others,” Thapar-Olmos said.
Control what you can. You may not be able to change other people, but what do you have control over? How can you structure your interactions? What are some healthy outlets you can use? Exercise agency whenever possible.
How Can You Help Others Who Experience Prejudice?
While it’s important to put your own mask on first, there are instances where you will be called to step in when others are the victims of prejudice.
Listen and Validate
If a friend comes to you with a story about their experience with prejudice or discrimination, it’s natural to want to help or fix the situation. But there are some things you should do before trying to spring into action.
Listen to their story. Stop everything else and take time to let them talk. Interrupting or jumping to conclusions, even with the best of intentions, isn’t helpful. Practice active listening and ask questions, paraphrase back, and watch for non-verbal cues.
Validate their experience. In situations of prejudice, there can be a lot of unknowns: What was the intent? Do they realize what they said? Uncertainty can make it easy for people to feel like it’s all in their head or they’re making it up. Validation is not blind agreement; it helps you understand someone’s response through their lens. It is saying, “I understand why you feel this way, based on who you are, what your history is, and what your experiences have been.”
Intervene in the Moment
If you witness an act of prejudice happening, there are ways you can act in the moment. The 4 Ds of bystander intervention External link are often used to address instances of sexual harassment or assault but can be applied for all kinds of scenarios.
Direct: Step in and address what’s happening directly. The direct method can be simple and effective, but it can also be uncomfortable or seem confrontational. Sometimes, this works better if you have a relationship with one or all of the people involved. Only intervene directly if you feel safe. Try saying:
Hey, what you’re saying isn’t okay. Please stop.
Leave them alone.
This isn’t appropriate. You should walk away.
Distract: Sidetrack either person with a new conversation, question, or activity. This is a more casual method than Direct, but can still be effective. Try saying:
Excuse me, will you show me where the bathroom is?
Did you see the game today? I can’t believe we lost.
We’re going to grab lunch. Come join us!
Delegate: Find someone who can help. Whether it’s a friend of yours, or a friend of theirs, having some backup can make you feel more comfortable to address the situation. Try saying:
That woman looks uncomfortable. Can you distract the guy she’s talking to so I can check with her?
Do you know him? I think he needs some help.
I think something is going on, but I don’t know what to do. Will you help me?
Delay: Check in with the person later. Sometimes, you may not feel comfortable or safe intervening in the moment. When that happens, reach out when you can and see how you can help. Try saying:
Are you okay? I saw what happened back there.
Can I help you out of this situation?
Do you know her? I heard what she said to you and wanted to check in.
Be an Ally, Advocate, and Activist
Thapar-Olmos recommends finding agency and voice where you feel comfortable. Identify ways you can support, speak, and act on behalf of causes and people you care about. Allyship, advocacy, and activism are not mutually exclusive for any person or act
Allyship is support for a particular group, especially a marginalized group that you are not a member of.
Advocacy is public support for a cause or movement
Activism is action for social or political change in the form of campaigning, protesting, and the like.
Everyone can still be surprised by their own biases, and that can make people feel vulnerable or defensive. But people need to push through that reaction.
“There’s no end point. It’s not like you ever fully eliminate bias,” Thapar-Olmos said. “But I think we have to be willing to engage in the discomfort if we’re going to talk about it and try to help other people.”
Dealing with prejudice—whether it’s microaggressions, bias, or discrimination—is physically and psychologically demanding. But avoiding it is not always an option.
“Not everyone has the luxury of leaving a prejudicial workplace or neighborhood,” said Natasha Thapar-Olmos, PhD, Program Director at OnlinePsychology@Pepperdine, the online Master of Arts in Psychology at Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology. External link “But there might be things we can do and some tools to cope.”
What are those tools? Use this guide to understand where prejudice comes from, what it looks like, and how you can help others experiencing it.
What Is Prejudice?
Word choice matters. We often use words like prejudice, bias, and bigotry interchangeably, and there are aspects to each of these concepts that overlap. But when addressing prejudice, it’s important to understand some of the subtle distinctions.
To understand prejudice, we also need to understand stereotypes. A stereotype is an oversimplified and widely held standardized idea used to describe a person or group. A form of social categorization, stereotypes are a shortcut for the brain when grouping information. Categories of stereotypes include:
Positive Stereotypes: Beliefs perceived as favorable qualities for a group.
Helpful Stereotypes: Beliefs that assist people in rapidly responding to situations that are similar to past experiences.
Negative Stereotypes: Beliefs perceived as unfavorable qualities for a group.
Harmful Stereotypes: Beliefs that spur people to respond unfairly or incorrectly to situations because of their perceived similarity to past experiences.
Stereotypes can help lay the foundation for prejudice—a preconceived, unfair judgement toward a person, group, or identity. Prejudice is formed without sufficient evidence or reason and can be based on qualities such as these:
Race
Ethnicity
Nationality
Gender
Sexuality
Religion
Disability
Class
Age
Prejudice can dictate how people treat each other, resulting in any of the following:
Bias: an inclination, tendency, or particular perspective toward something; can be favorable or unfavorable. When bias occurs outside of the perceiver’s awareness, it is classified as implicit bias.
Microaggressions: an indirect, subtle, or unintentional comment or action that is prejudicial toward a marginalized group.
Bigotry: the intolerance of different opinions, beliefs, or ways of life.
Hate: disgust or contempt for another group that facilitates a desire for separation, strong emotions of fear or anger, and dehumanizing beliefs. Hate can take the form of:
Hate Speech: form of expression intended to attack or incite hatred of a class of persons.
Hate Crime: criminal offense motivated by a bias.
Hate Group: organization that attacks or condemns a class of people.
Discrimination: unfair and negative treatment different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.
Oppression: a cruel and unjust abuse of power that prevents people from having opportunities and freedom.
Although acts of hate can be a result of prejudice, prejudice does not require hate. Engaging in sexist behavior, for example, does not require an individual to be a misogynist. Prejudiced behavior can’t simply be viewed through the lens of interpersonal interactions; it must also be understood at an institutional and societal level. For example, anyone can be prejudiced against a person of another race. But understanding racism necessitates acknowledging who has historically been marginalized, who is privileged, and what power dynamics exist.
Elissa Buxbaum, director of campus affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, said they’ve noticed the trend, too. However, she points out that increases can be attributed to a few different things.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that more incidents were happening,” she said. “But it does mean that more people were reporting it and that more people were feeling comfortable to report.”
What Are the Health Effects of Prejudice?
Social determinants of health (SDOH) External link are the environmental factors that contribute to the well-being of communities and individuals. Some examples of such influences include access to educational opportunities, exposure to crime, and transportation options.
African American men living in poverty are almost three times as likely to die early than those living above the poverty line, according to a JAMA study on race and poverty as a risk. External link There is no difference for white men in and out of poverty.
On the individual level, prejudice can have direct health consequences. Just the anticipation of prejudice or discrimination can lead to cardiovascular and psychological stress responses, according to a 2011 AJPA study on discrimination and stress. External link Over time this can contribute to depression, anxiety and feelings of isolation or loneliness.
It can also lead to self-stigmatization.
“People of marginalized or discriminated groups can develop negative beliefs towards themselves,” Thapar-Olmos said. “That gets in the way of all kinds of things—relationships, functioning, recovery.”
How Can You Build Resilience Against Prejudice?
It is never your responsibility to educate someone who is hateful or discriminatory toward you.
Combating prejudice is the oxygen mask on an airplane, Thapar-Olmos explained. If you’re traveling with someone who requires assistance, place your own mask on first before helping the person next to you.
“If we’re not healthy and we’re not monitoring our own emotional reserves, then we’re not doing anyone else any favors,” she said. Thapar-Olmos recommends the framework below to start building internal resilience against prejudice and discrimination.
Face reality head-on. Denial can be powerful. Name and acknowledge your experiences, whether it is to a family member, friend, or counselor.
Make meaning out of experiences. How can we learn from these experiences? How can they inform us? “I think a lot of people find meaning in growing from pain by enriching others,” Thapar-Olmos said.
Control what you can. You may not be able to change other people, but what do you have control over? How can you structure your interactions? What are some healthy outlets you can use? Exercise agency whenever possible.
How Can You Help Others Who Experience Prejudice?
While it’s important to put your own mask on first, there are instances where you will be called to step in when others are the victims of prejudice.
Listen and Validate
If a friend comes to you with a story about their experience with prejudice or discrimination, it’s natural to want to help or fix the situation. But there are some things you should do before trying to spring into action.
Listen to their story. Stop everything else and take time to let them talk. Interrupting or jumping to conclusions, even with the best of intentions, isn’t helpful. Practice active listening and ask questions, paraphrase back, and watch for non-verbal cues.
Validate their experience. In situations of prejudice, there can be a lot of unknowns: What was the intent? Do they realize what they said? Uncertainty can make it easy for people to feel like it’s all in their head or they’re making it up. Validation is not blind agreement; it helps you understand someone’s response through their lens. It is saying, “I understand why you feel this way, based on who you are, what your history is, and what your experiences have been.”
Intervene in the Moment
If you witness an act of prejudice happening, there are ways you can act in the moment. The 4 Ds of bystander intervention External link are often used to address instances of sexual harassment or assault but can be applied for all kinds of scenarios.
Direct: Step in and address what’s happening directly. The direct method can be simple and effective, but it can also be uncomfortable or seem confrontational. Sometimes, this works better if you have a relationship with one or all of the people involved. Only intervene directly if you feel safe. Try saying:
Hey, what you’re saying isn’t okay. Please stop.
Leave them alone.
This isn’t appropriate. You should walk away.
Distract: Sidetrack either person with a new conversation, question, or activity. This is a more casual method than Direct, but can still be effective. Try saying:
Excuse me, will you show me where the bathroom is?
Did you see the game today? I can’t believe we lost.
We’re going to grab lunch. Come join us!
Delegate: Find someone who can help. Whether it’s a friend of yours, or a friend of theirs, having some backup can make you feel more comfortable to address the situation. Try saying:
That woman looks uncomfortable. Can you distract the guy she’s talking to so I can check with her?
Do you know him? I think he needs some help.
I think something is going on, but I don’t know what to do. Will you help me?
Delay: Check in with the person later. Sometimes, you may not feel comfortable or safe intervening in the moment. When that happens, reach out when you can and see how you can help. Try saying:
Are you okay? I saw what happened back there.
Can I help you out of this situation?
Do you know her? I heard what she said to you and wanted to check in.
Be an Ally, Advocate, and Activist
Thapar-Olmos recommends finding agency and voice where you feel comfortable. Identify ways you can support, speak, and act on behalf of causes and people you care about. Allyship, advocacy, and activism are not mutually exclusive for any person or act
Allyship is support for a particular group, especially a marginalized group that you are not a member of.
Advocacy is public support for a cause or movement
Activism is action for social or political change in the form of campaigning, protesting, and the like.
Everyone can still be surprised by their own biases, and that can make people feel vulnerable or defensive. But people need to push through that reaction.
“There’s no end point. It’s not like you ever fully eliminate bias,” Thapar-Olmos said. “But I think we have to be willing to engage in the discomfort if we’re going to talk about it and try to help other people.”
An open letter from geoscientists supports a bill to remove racist slurs from federally recognized lakes, creeks, canyons, and other small landforms.
Content warning: This article contains examples of racist slurs used in federally recognized place-names. This language has been used to harass and discriminate against people of color.
More than a thousand geographic features in the United States have racial slurs in their name. The slurs include derogatory terms for people who are Black, Indigenous, and of Asian descent and are used in names for small features across the landscape, like valleys, creeks, and lakes. Phoenix’s Piestewa Peak (pictured above) was renamed in 2008 to honor Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die serving in the U.S. military. Previously, the mountain’s name contained an offensive slur for Indigenous women.
Now an open letter from four graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is calling on geoscientists to support a recent bill in Congress to help remove the names. The Reconciliation in Place Names Act would give a federal board more power to change offensive place-names. The letter authors say that geoscientists must make the outdoors safe for people of color by removing harmful language that makes the profession less welcoming.
“There hasn’t been a push within the geosciences to figure out how we handle the fact that these are historical names,” said coauthor Meghana Ranganathan, who studies Antarctic ice sheets. The group became aware of the issue after one encountered a racial slur on a geologic map.
“These place-names serve a silent, yet visibly obtrusive and constant reminder of the deeply rooted white supremacist ideologies that continue to haunt many of these landscapes,” said Tamara Pico, one of the more than 400 scientists who have signed the letter.
A Legacy of Oppression Written on the Land
An investigation in 2015 by the data-mining company Vocativ found 1,441 federally recognized place-names that contained slurs. Every state contains at least one, and Western and Southern states had the most instances.
Vocativ found at least 558 places across the United States that have offensive words for Black people, including the words “Negro,” “Uncle Tom,” and “Jim Crow.” They also found derogatory names for Asian Americans. By far the most common term was the slur “Squaw,” considered an offensive term for Indigenous women, which appears on the map 828 times.
“A lot of [the offensive names] are in places where a lot of science is being done, which is why this became something that we thought would be a great way for the geoscience community to get behind the bill because it is relevant to all of us,” Ranganathan said.
A Racist Slur in a New Mexican Canyon
The letter came about from the experience of letter writer Julia Wilcots, who was surprised to see a racist name used in a place-name for a canyon in New Mexico at one of her potential field sites. The canyon was identified as “(N-word) Ed Canyon.”
Although the U.S. Board on Geographic Names removed all instances of this particular word in 1963 (as well as a slur for Japanese people in 1974), the predominant geologic map of the area was published before the name change. Wilcots found at least 11 instances of the slur in the scientific report. The feature’s formal name today is Negro Ed Canyon.
With help from a lab partner, Wilcots redacted all instances of the slur in the document, changing it to “Ed Canyon,” and shared it with her adviser, who passed it along to colleagues.
Wilcots urges others to redact racist slurs from their research materials as an act of anti-racism.
“You could say, ‘I’m not going to be racist myself. When I write my paper about this area, I’m not going to use the N-word. I’m going to use the formal name on the map,’” she said. But that doesn’t go far enough to protect researchers of color, she explained.
“I’m pretty fully committed to geology, and this hasn’t deterred me from continuing in the field. It’s emboldened me to be more outspoken in the field,” Wilcots said. “But I think people should recognize that…if you hand this map to a Black student who is considering geosciences and it’s full of the N-word, you know that has an impact.”
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names handles alterations to names, but the board can’t actively seek out names to change: They merely review proposals and are not a rubber stamp for submitted changes. The board blocked the state of Texas from removing the word “Negro” from nearly two dozen place-names, for instance, because of the lack of both local support and a historical connection to the new names.
Instead of relying on proposals to the board, the new bill creates an advisory committee that will seek out offensive names to change. People appointed to the committee will have backgrounds in civil rights and race relations, as well as come from tribes or tribal organizations. The committee will be required to make recommendations to the board, thus speeding up the process.
“It’s past time to change the offensive names of public lands, especially with input from groups who have been discriminated against,” said Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo. The bill targets names with racial slurs as well as places named in honor of individuals who “held racially repugnant views, committed atrocities against Native Americans, or supported or effectuated discriminatory policies,” stated the bill.
Name changes can be simple, said Ranganathan. In Utah, the board approved changing the name of Negro Bill Canyon to Grandstaff Canyon in 2017. William Grandstaff was a mixed-race rancher in the area for whom the canyon was named.
“It still honors the person that the canyon was originally named after,” Ranganathan said, “but it does so in a way that is not offensive.”
By Jenessa Duncombe (@jrdscience). This story originally appeared in EOS.org and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
An open letter from geoscientists supports a bill to remove racist slurs from federally recognized lakes, creeks, canyons, and other small landforms.
Content warning: This article contains examples of racist slurs used in federally recognized place-names. This language has been used to harass and discriminate against people of color.
More than a thousand geographic features in the United States have racial slurs in their name. The slurs include derogatory terms for people who are Black, Indigenous, and of Asian descent and are used in names for small features across the landscape, like valleys, creeks, and lakes. Phoenix’s Piestewa Peak (pictured above) was renamed in 2008 to honor Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die serving in the U.S. military. Previously, the mountain’s name contained an offensive slur for Indigenous women.
Now an open letter from four graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is calling on geoscientists to support a recent bill in Congress to help remove the names. The Reconciliation in Place Names Act would give a federal board more power to change offensive place-names. The letter authors say that geoscientists must make the outdoors safe for people of color by removing harmful language that makes the profession less welcoming.
“There hasn’t been a push within the geosciences to figure out how we handle the fact that these are historical names,” said coauthor Meghana Ranganathan, who studies Antarctic ice sheets. The group became aware of the issue after one encountered a racial slur on a geologic map.
“These place-names serve a silent, yet visibly obtrusive and constant reminder of the deeply rooted white supremacist ideologies that continue to haunt many of these landscapes,” said Tamara Pico, one of the more than 400 scientists who have signed the letter.
A Legacy of Oppression Written on the Land
An investigation in 2015 by the data-mining company Vocativ found 1,441 federally recognized place-names that contained slurs. Every state contains at least one, and Western and Southern states had the most instances.
Vocativ found at least 558 places across the United States that have offensive words for Black people, including the words “Negro,” “Uncle Tom,” and “Jim Crow.” They also found derogatory names for Asian Americans. By far the most common term was the slur “Squaw,” considered an offensive term for Indigenous women, which appears on the map 828 times.
“A lot of [the offensive names] are in places where a lot of science is being done, which is why this became something that we thought would be a great way for the geoscience community to get behind the bill because it is relevant to all of us,” Ranganathan said.
A Racist Slur in a New Mexican Canyon
The letter came about from the experience of letter writer Julia Wilcots, who was surprised to see a racist name used in a place-name for a canyon in New Mexico at one of her potential field sites. The canyon was identified as “(N-word) Ed Canyon.”
Although the U.S. Board on Geographic Names removed all instances of this particular word in 1963 (as well as a slur for Japanese people in 1974), the predominant geologic map of the area was published before the name change. Wilcots found at least 11 instances of the slur in the scientific report. The feature’s formal name today is Negro Ed Canyon.
With help from a lab partner, Wilcots redacted all instances of the slur in the document, changing it to “Ed Canyon,” and shared it with her adviser, who passed it along to colleagues.
Wilcots urges others to redact racist slurs from their research materials as an act of anti-racism.
“You could say, ‘I’m not going to be racist myself. When I write my paper about this area, I’m not going to use the N-word. I’m going to use the formal name on the map,’” she said. But that doesn’t go far enough to protect researchers of color, she explained.
“I’m pretty fully committed to geology, and this hasn’t deterred me from continuing in the field. It’s emboldened me to be more outspoken in the field,” Wilcots said. “But I think people should recognize that…if you hand this map to a Black student who is considering geosciences and it’s full of the N-word, you know that has an impact.”
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names handles alterations to names, but the board can’t actively seek out names to change: They merely review proposals and are not a rubber stamp for submitted changes. The board blocked the state of Texas from removing the word “Negro” from nearly two dozen place-names, for instance, because of the lack of both local support and a historical connection to the new names.
Instead of relying on proposals to the board, the new bill creates an advisory committee that will seek out offensive names to change. People appointed to the committee will have backgrounds in civil rights and race relations, as well as come from tribes or tribal organizations. The committee will be required to make recommendations to the board, thus speeding up the process.
“It’s past time to change the offensive names of public lands, especially with input from groups who have been discriminated against,” said Haaland, a member of New Mexico’s Laguna Pueblo. The bill targets names with racial slurs as well as places named in honor of individuals who “held racially repugnant views, committed atrocities against Native Americans, or supported or effectuated discriminatory policies,” stated the bill.
Name changes can be simple, said Ranganathan. In Utah, the board approved changing the name of Negro Bill Canyon to Grandstaff Canyon in 2017. William Grandstaff was a mixed-race rancher in the area for whom the canyon was named.
“It still honors the person that the canyon was originally named after,” Ranganathan said, “but it does so in a way that is not offensive.”
By Jenessa Duncombe (@jrdscience). This story originally appeared in EOS.org and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
The Ellis Island immigration station opened in New York harbor in 1900, just in time for the huge upswing in immigration to the United States that took place in the years leading up to World War I.
In 1907, the peak year of immigration, 3,000 to 5,000 newcomers a day were examined at Ellis Island as they sought permanent entry to the country. Many photographers, who specialized in maritime subjects, were drawn to Ellis Island by the general human interest and newsworthiness of the scene. These photographs from The New York Public Library depict scenes from 1902-1913 that would not look out of place today at certain immigration processing centers.
The pens at Ellis Island, Registry Room (or Great Hall). These people have passed the first mental inspection.Passed and waiting to be taken off Ellis Island.Ready for travel and going North, South and West. Immigrants with baggage lined up at a teller’s window to exchange money.Immigrants being served a free meal at Ellis Island.William Williams, Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island form 1902-5 and 1909-13, from whose estate these photographs came. The New York skyline, showing the nearly-completed Woolworth Building tower, is at the left.
The Ellis Island immigration station opened in New York harbor in 1900, just in time for the huge upswing in immigration to the United States that took place in the years leading up to World War I.
In 1907, the peak year of immigration, 3,000 to 5,000 newcomers a day were examined at Ellis Island as they sought permanent entry to the country. Many photographers, who specialized in maritime subjects, were drawn to Ellis Island by the general human interest and newsworthiness of the scene. These photographs from The New York Public Library depict scenes from 1902-1913 that would not look out of place today at certain immigration processing centers.
The pens at Ellis Island, Registry Room (or Great Hall). These people have passed the first mental inspection.Passed and waiting to be taken off Ellis Island.Ready for travel and going North, South and West. Immigrants with baggage lined up at a teller’s window to exchange money.Immigrants being served a free meal at Ellis Island.William Williams, Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island form 1902-5 and 1909-13, from whose estate these photographs came. The New York skyline, showing the nearly-completed Woolworth Building tower, is at the left.
It seems as if every few years, a new trend sweeps through the business world, calling for widespread transformation and change.
In 2021, “diversity” and “inclusion” are the most heard buzz words. To see how trends can quickly fail, let’s first look at the recent digital transformation’s biggest challenges. Based on those lessons learned, three diversity transformation success keys can help business leaders, small business owners, and entrepreneurs better manage this new trend.
Many leaders agree that it is time to begin evaluating and even implementing J.E.D.I. (corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, Source: OSC J.E.D.I. Collaborative) principles in the workplace. But the majority are not managing the implementation effectively today.
Let’s start by looking back at the digital transformation trend and corporate challenges. With the game-changer launch of the iPhone in 2007, and the first iPad in 2010 transforming mobile technology, it significantly reduced Blackberry, Microsoft, and IBM’s grip on the corporate market. Around the same time, the advancement of social media with myspace and then Facebook, the application marketplace launch, the rise of predictive advertising algorithms and cookie trackers, big data, cloud computing, and the rapid acceptance of e-commerce all gave rise to a wave of so-called “digital transformation” across lagging industries.
Suddenly, IT was out and Chief Technology or Chief Digital, Data, and Analytics Officers were in. CEOs around the world allocated billions of dollars to ensure that their companies would not be left behind in the digital gold rush.
And how did this digital transformation trend go? In his landmark publication, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Other’s Don’t (2001), author Jim Collins and researchers identified six tenets of companies that delivered 10X greater financial returns over a 30-year period compared to their selected industry peers. The one principle that comes to mind when watching how companies go from not even seated at the table to all-in on a given trend is one Collins called Disciplined Action, which is comprised of a culture of discipline and technology accelerators.
Importantly, Disciplined Action was the third key for companies to achieve greatness after Disciplined People and Disciplined Thought. As it relates to investing in technology as a booster of profits and productivity, Collins writes, “When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it. The good-to-great companies never began their transitions with pioneering technology, for the simple reason that you cannot make good use of technology until you know which technologies are relevant.”
“Basically, until a company has the right people in the right positions, and everyone understands their purpose so clearly that they are willing to let certain trends pass them by if they don’t align to the organization’s dogmatic mission, it makes no sense to jump on the bandwagon of a new technology.”
Many companies in lagging industries dove into the digital space to transform their marketing practices, customer engagement approaches, supply chain management, and more. This was only to have talented colleagues hired to lead the transformation leave within a matter of months because the company didn’t have a clear idea of what it was really trying to accomplish other than “Keeping up with the Dotcoms.” Talk about a momentum killer that went bust.
The lack of clear purpose brings us to the question of how well the corporate world is now embracing the latest diversity trend, which includes the causes of corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (J.E.D.I.).
According to LinkedIn data in an excellent article titled “Why the Head of Diversity is the Job of the Moment,” the number of people globally with the “Head of Diversity” title more than doubled (107% growth) over the last five years (2015-2020). The number with the “Director of Diversity” title grew 75%, and “Chief Diversity Officer” was up 68%.
You may read these job title numbers and say to yourself, well, that’s great progress, right? Well, most of these companies leaning into this space have no idea how supporting J.E.D.I. causes links to their overall business purpose, nor how to invest in properly, or measure their progress and impact.
It is far worse to create a new diversity leadership position and elevate internal employee, customer, community, and shareholder expectations only for the efforts to fall flat due to lack of alignment, understanding, and support.
Taking a page from Good to Great, therefore, for companies to be great in their J.E.D.I. efforts, three key factors need to be in place.
Diverse People: Great companies understand the power of leveraging diversity as part of their overall mission. These early adopters and “diversity champions” already have boards, executive wings, and senior leadership teams comprised of groups of people of all ages, races, sexes, sexual orientations, and nationalities. The organization is already benefitting from the differences amongst themselves, so combining their efforts under a diversity lead makes sense. For everyone else, instead of hiring a diversity head with the mandate of “fixing an outdated culture,” they can simply empower Human Resources and hiring managers with a diversity mandate first. And success can be achieved by adding relevant training, coaching, and leadership programs necessary to ensure that everyone understands and aligns with the belief that diversity creates a competitive advantage.
Diverse Thought: Difference is a powerful innovation accelerator when properly harnessed. According to Quantas Airlines CEO Alan Joyce reflecting on the company’s spectacular financial turnaround from 2013 to 2017, “diversity generated better strategy, better risk management, better debates, and better outcomes.” Business is about trying to make more good decisions than bad, and diversity and inclusion are powerful mechanisms to improve situational analysis and generate potential solutions. But it only works if the people being included feel safe and inspired by their companies impact not only on themselves, but on customers, communities, and the environment.
Diverse Action: At the end of the day, companies are evaluated on what they do and how well, not just being prepared to do it. All the diversity leads in the world plus $5.00 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. A great company is stocked with diversity at all levels, and understands how it powers their overall mission. J.E.D.I. principles, values, and actions are just part of their everyday culture and operations. These organizations can begin to impact how the company sees and interacts with the world at large and how the world sees the company. In this sense, every action taken by the company is enhanced by J.E.D.I. The company becomes enriched by the results of its efforts to enhance social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, not just within its walls but in the customers it serves, the communities it impacts, and the environment in which it exists.
Just as the digital transformation was seen as a WHAT and not a WHY, which is how it ultimately failed for so many enterprises; diversity and related justice, equity, and inclusion efforts will flop if everyone does not understand the bigger picture purpose and why these elements are so crucial to their success.
If you are already in one of these highly regarded diversity leadership positions, your accomplishments may be significantly hindered until the people and approaches of everyone around you change. And that’s where this diversity transformation has to start. If the senior management is only giving lip service to these important ideas, fad chasing, or doing it for PR purposes, it may already be time to search for greener pastures.
Ultimately, J.E.D.I. is not a trend to be chased — it is a reckoning long in the making for a business world that has sustained a boss hierarchy, privilege, bias, and underrepresentation for way too long. Like technology, diversity has always been accessible to all but only truly leveraged by a few enlightened companies that understand that business is much bigger than stockpiling profits. Hopefully, others will learn from the mishaps of the digital transformation era and get the basics right this time for this diversity transformation.
It seems as if every few years, a new trend sweeps through the business world, calling for widespread transformation and change.
In 2021, “diversity” and “inclusion” are the most heard buzz words. To see how trends can quickly fail, let’s first look at the recent digital transformation’s biggest challenges. Based on those lessons learned, three diversity transformation success keys can help business leaders, small business owners, and entrepreneurs better manage this new trend.
Many leaders agree that it is time to begin evaluating and even implementing J.E.D.I. (corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, Source: OSC J.E.D.I. Collaborative) principles in the workplace. But the majority are not managing the implementation effectively today.
Let’s start by looking back at the digital transformation trend and corporate challenges. With the game-changer launch of the iPhone in 2007, and the first iPad in 2010 transforming mobile technology, it significantly reduced Blackberry, Microsoft, and IBM’s grip on the corporate market. Around the same time, the advancement of social media with myspace and then Facebook, the application marketplace launch, the rise of predictive advertising algorithms and cookie trackers, big data, cloud computing, and the rapid acceptance of e-commerce all gave rise to a wave of so-called “digital transformation” across lagging industries.
Suddenly, IT was out and Chief Technology or Chief Digital, Data, and Analytics Officers were in. CEOs around the world allocated billions of dollars to ensure that their companies would not be left behind in the digital gold rush.
And how did this digital transformation trend go? In his landmark publication, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Other’s Don’t (2001), author Jim Collins and researchers identified six tenets of companies that delivered 10X greater financial returns over a 30-year period compared to their selected industry peers. The one principle that comes to mind when watching how companies go from not even seated at the table to all-in on a given trend is one Collins called Disciplined Action, which is comprised of a culture of discipline and technology accelerators.
Importantly, Disciplined Action was the third key for companies to achieve greatness after Disciplined People and Disciplined Thought. As it relates to investing in technology as a booster of profits and productivity, Collins writes, “When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it. The good-to-great companies never began their transitions with pioneering technology, for the simple reason that you cannot make good use of technology until you know which technologies are relevant.”
“Basically, until a company has the right people in the right positions, and everyone understands their purpose so clearly that they are willing to let certain trends pass them by if they don’t align to the organization’s dogmatic mission, it makes no sense to jump on the bandwagon of a new technology.”
Many companies in lagging industries dove into the digital space to transform their marketing practices, customer engagement approaches, supply chain management, and more. This was only to have talented colleagues hired to lead the transformation leave within a matter of months because the company didn’t have a clear idea of what it was really trying to accomplish other than “Keeping up with the Dotcoms.” Talk about a momentum killer that went bust.
The lack of clear purpose brings us to the question of how well the corporate world is now embracing the latest diversity trend, which includes the causes of corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (J.E.D.I.).
According to LinkedIn data in an excellent article titled “Why the Head of Diversity is the Job of the Moment,” the number of people globally with the “Head of Diversity” title more than doubled (107% growth) over the last five years (2015-2020). The number with the “Director of Diversity” title grew 75%, and “Chief Diversity Officer” was up 68%.
You may read these job title numbers and say to yourself, well, that’s great progress, right? Well, most of these companies leaning into this space have no idea how supporting J.E.D.I. causes links to their overall business purpose, nor how to invest in properly, or measure their progress and impact.
It is far worse to create a new diversity leadership position and elevate internal employee, customer, community, and shareholder expectations only for the efforts to fall flat due to lack of alignment, understanding, and support.
Taking a page from Good to Great, therefore, for companies to be great in their J.E.D.I. efforts, three key factors need to be in place.
Diverse People: Great companies understand the power of leveraging diversity as part of their overall mission. These early adopters and “diversity champions” already have boards, executive wings, and senior leadership teams comprised of groups of people of all ages, races, sexes, sexual orientations, and nationalities. The organization is already benefitting from the differences amongst themselves, so combining their efforts under a diversity lead makes sense. For everyone else, instead of hiring a diversity head with the mandate of “fixing an outdated culture,” they can simply empower Human Resources and hiring managers with a diversity mandate first. And success can be achieved by adding relevant training, coaching, and leadership programs necessary to ensure that everyone understands and aligns with the belief that diversity creates a competitive advantage.
Diverse Thought: Difference is a powerful innovation accelerator when properly harnessed. According to Quantas Airlines CEO Alan Joyce reflecting on the company’s spectacular financial turnaround from 2013 to 2017, “diversity generated better strategy, better risk management, better debates, and better outcomes.” Business is about trying to make more good decisions than bad, and diversity and inclusion are powerful mechanisms to improve situational analysis and generate potential solutions. But it only works if the people being included feel safe and inspired by their companies impact not only on themselves, but on customers, communities, and the environment.
Diverse Action: At the end of the day, companies are evaluated on what they do and how well, not just being prepared to do it. All the diversity leads in the world plus $5.00 will buy you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. A great company is stocked with diversity at all levels, and understands how it powers their overall mission. J.E.D.I. principles, values, and actions are just part of their everyday culture and operations. These organizations can begin to impact how the company sees and interacts with the world at large and how the world sees the company. In this sense, every action taken by the company is enhanced by J.E.D.I. The company becomes enriched by the results of its efforts to enhance social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, not just within its walls but in the customers it serves, the communities it impacts, and the environment in which it exists.
Just as the digital transformation was seen as a WHAT and not a WHY, which is how it ultimately failed for so many enterprises; diversity and related justice, equity, and inclusion efforts will flop if everyone does not understand the bigger picture purpose and why these elements are so crucial to their success.
If you are already in one of these highly regarded diversity leadership positions, your accomplishments may be significantly hindered until the people and approaches of everyone around you change. And that’s where this diversity transformation has to start. If the senior management is only giving lip service to these important ideas, fad chasing, or doing it for PR purposes, it may already be time to search for greener pastures.
Ultimately, J.E.D.I. is not a trend to be chased — it is a reckoning long in the making for a business world that has sustained a boss hierarchy, privilege, bias, and underrepresentation for way too long. Like technology, diversity has always been accessible to all but only truly leveraged by a few enlightened companies that understand that business is much bigger than stockpiling profits. Hopefully, others will learn from the mishaps of the digital transformation era and get the basics right this time for this diversity transformation.
