I Read: Birds of All Feathers

Birds of All Feathers: Doing Diversity and Inclusion Right by Michael Bach

Equality is giving everyone a shoe.  Equity is giving everyone a shoe that fits.

Important words to consider when thinking about diversity and inclusion. Everyone deserves equity because equality isn't taking individualism into account.

There's not a lot I can say about this book. It speaks for itself. Michael Bach is well-versed in diversity and inclusion and sets this book up as a simple-to-read starter for anyone wanting to think more about the topics. There's obviously not going to be a step-by-step manual in a 200-page pocket-sized book, but the words here will make the reader think about themselves, and their organization from a different perspective. 

If you are sitting there pondering why he needed to list Diversity and Inclusion separately on the cover, then you should read the book. It contains a great explanation for what we do well, and what we do poorly, in our general attempts at diversity, and inclusion. 

#57-2021 

I Read: This is the Fire

This is the Fire: What I Say to My Friends About Racism by Don Lemon

I wasn't sure what to expect from this. I watch Don Lemon on CNN regularly (way more regularly than I ought to really, and way, way more regularly since the pandemic and other issues in the US over the past year.)  But I'm not always completely sure that I enjoy watching. 

The show is smart, intelligent, but sometimes it's over my head. Sometimes it feels like that's intentional - that the point is to make everything seem so intelligent that it has to be true. I was afraid that would be the case with this book as well. 

But I was also excited for the book's release. My mom and I both have been looking forward to it, because Don Lemon speaks so clearly and carefully. It's not that his language isn't passionate about the topic - he definitely is - it's just that it's also always so rational. Logical. Which the world, and especially the US, haven't had a lot of lately. 

I Read: The Skin We're In

The Skin We're In by Desmond Cole

This book made me very uncomfortable. Not in a bad way, but in a way that makes me rethink things about the place I live. 

I was taught that Canada was a mosaic of cultures - that we are an accepting nation, a multicultural nation. And while we may be that, nowhere in that teaching did I ever learn about how unequal we are. As an adult, I should have been paying more attention but honestly, I'm white and the inequality likely benefits me. I dislike having to admit that, but it's harder to deny it once I see it.