The Problem with Cultural Competency, DEI, and Leadership — Part One: Nothing Changes When Nothing Changes

Iremember distinctly a time in my professional career when cultural competency and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) were too radical for my workplace, that the extent of multiculturalism was food fairs and performances, and that diversity meant geography — look at all the different ZIP codes we come from! — without ever looking at how the ZIP codes signified redlining, housing discrimination, police occupation, food apartheid, and the unforgettable legacies of structural racism and violence designed into cityscape maps. Looking back now on the five years I spent at a predominantly white institution (PWI) as the founding Director of Inclusivity and Equity, I wonder two things: 1) how did I ever survive those years, and 2) why did I spend such energy trying to convince white people that diversity mattered? Forget about equity and anti-racism, ’cause #whitefragility. Those five years held me captive, my spirit shriveling year after year as a Southeast Asian woman who grew up dancing to the soundtrack of refugee resilience and critical race theory. <a href="https://bthechange.com/the-problem-with-cultural-competency-dei-and-leadership-part-one-nothing-changes-when-nothing-c-f75730975a3c">Click Here</a>