by Carole Copeland ThomasToday is the last opportunity for you to help Carole Build Community by joining the Multicultural Symposium Series at $99. Building Community is the essential success ingredient of The Multicultural Symposium Series. It's an opportunity to meet people around the world from all walks of like. And our November 1st Multicultural Conference will bring together business leaders, community advocates, educators, government officials and up and coming professionals who are in their own way advancing the cause of multiculturalism, diversity, and inclusion. It's an exciting time to get involved! Special pricing ends today, Saturday, June 30th. Only $99. The price goes UP to $179 on July 1st. Sign up your team. Help me reach my goal of signing on 180 new members who want to learn, lead and build a cross-cultural community with people across the world. With your help, the goal can be reached! Learn more at http://bit.ly/2MTWcOH
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By Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA, CDMP, CITM The Most Common Diversity Categories Here is a list of the most common diversity categories used in training workshops, discussion groups and during conferences and conventions. Diversity categories, titles and, topics evolve and change from time to time like any other dynamic topic, so don't stress out about etching them in your memory bank. It's important to recognize that "one size does not fit all." The terminology for one person may differ from another person in the same ethnic/gender/racial group. For example, some prefer the term Hispanic, while others like to be called Latino. Others may simply prefer Chicano. And women can be addressed as Latina. All four words describe the vibrant, spirited complexity of the Spanish Speaking community in America. So give it a whirl. Choose a word or term and brush up on your diversity proficiency both on and off your job. ==== Multicultural/Diversity/Inclusion/Cross Cultural Class/Household Income/Economic Status African American/Black Biracial/Multiracial White Americans/European Americans/Caucasians Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Chicano Asian American/Pacific Islander/South Asian American Native American/American Indian Arab American/Middle East American Sexual Orientation: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Heterosexual Gender Identities: Male/Female/Transgender, etc. Persons With Disabilities Age Issues Religion/Agnostic/Atheist Education Political Beliefs Nationality Physical Size Human Work Style By Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA, CDMP, CITM Multiculturalism represents the landscape of our community as human beings. It’s a bigger concept than diversity because its very meaning requires an open platform for embracing multiple cultures, ethnic groups, and ideologies within a society. Multicultural means many cultures operating in the same space. America, like other countries, is multicultural because different cultural groups maintain a meaningful co-existence within the span of 50 states. Even though there are decades of history where oppression, racism, discrimination and legislative restrictions affected one ethnic group over another, the cultural coexistence remains a vital link to our identity as Americans. Multiculturalism demands that you coexist with others. In a truly multicultural society, one cultural group does not dominate another. The abundance theory is the prevailing rule, where society’s output is big enough for all of our cultures and ethnicities to be represented in an equally respectable manner. We seem to fully embrace multiculturalism in food. Visit any mall or shopping center in any city or town and the food courts are populated with people from all walks of life. From soul food to Cajun cooking, to Chinese cuisine to Indian vegetarian dishes, a typical food court presents the best argument that cultural pluralism can yield good value to any consumer’s taste buds. On the other hand, some aspects of multiculturalism are closely guarded and tolerated only to a point. It’s fascinating to watch professionals in the workplace celebrate the worthiness of multiculturalism on the job. One would think that the level of commitment to cross cultural causes would get packed up and taken straight home to share, just like that leftover shrimp fried rice gets taken home after the party at work has ended. Instead, far too often you witness the reinforcement of cultural silos as employees head to cars, buses, and trains to take them back to their neighborhoods that are all White, all black, all Hispanic, or mostly Asian. The social conformity of our neighborhoods provides the greatest opportunity for us to break through our comfort zones, venture out, and live among other cultures. It represents one of the central frontiers of true multiculturalism. Diversity is an important byproduct of multiculturalism. It speaks to the segmentation of our societies and frames the very categories that define who we are as individuals and members of specific groups or cultural components. I define Diversity from this perspective: Diversity is understanding, appreciating and ultimately managing difference and similarities at the same time. The emphasis is on the word AND. Diversity looks at both difference AND similarities, with one not being more important than the other. That’s where most people make a mistake by focusing on either one’s difference or one’s similarities without realizing that BOTH are in operation at the same time. For example, as an African American female, when speaking at conferences and meetings, I am accustomed to being “the only one,” that is, the only person of color either attending the meeting or speaking at the meeting. To focus on my difference from the rest of the conference attendees is only embracing half the experience. The other half recognizes that there are personal values, educational experiences, regional interests and industry issues that I share as similar points of intersection with those attending the same meeting. To just focus on my ethnic difference cancels out the rich value of those similarities of which I share in common with others. Okay, let me explain it another way. Some years ago I traveled to Kenya for the first time. It was the trip of a lifetime for me. The minute I stepped off that airplane, pulled out my American passport and presented it to the customs officer at the Nairobi, Kenya Airport, my differences AND similarities were on full display with every other American on that plane. Some of the passengers had black skin like mine. My travel mates (now called the Kenya Sistahs) were also African American females. Some of the passengers were white Americans. Others were Hispanics while other were Asian Americans. There were Europeans, Asians, and Africans on the plane, too. So the differences were on full display from ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic class. However, the similarities also represented this collection of travelers. I held an American passport, as did many others on the plane. And meeting other Americans on that maiden voyage trip to mother Africa was so very exciting, since we were all thousands of miles away from home, and it was comforting to connect with other ex-patriots from the States. In diversity work, the similarities are as important as the differences. Similarities are on equal footing with differences. That is so important to remember since there is an incorrect assumption that diversity is polarizing because it only focuses on differences at the expense of similarities. You see it in families all the time. Brothers and sisters with the same biological parents, yet their values and opinions are as different as night and day. I see it in my own adult daughters, Michelle and Lorna. Their political, spiritual and economic opinions are very similar. However, their work habits, approach to preparation and personalities completely different. The same is true for extended families, members of associations and corporate colleagues. Differences should be valued with the same level of importance as similarities. They represent a different slice of the diversity equation. Take advantage of the countless situations that can frame your multicultural and diversity points of reference. It can become a lifelong opportunity for you to enhance your knowledge base while building cross-cultural relationships that can have a positive impact on your life. Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA, CDMP, CITM is a Boston based speaker and consultant focusing on global diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion. She has been featured in the New York Times, Boston Globe, WGBH Radio, Black Enterprise Magazine, and CBS-TV. Visit Carole online at www.carolecopelandthomas.com For all of those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom, we SALUTE YOU. Memorial Day is about the dead. Those who did not come home. Those who fought and died. We SALUTE your great sacrifice.
-Carole Copeland Thomas Dear Family, Valuable Friends, Clients, and Colleagues:
From my home to yours, I wish you rich blessings into the New Year. Here is a special article I created about the history of Watch Night Service in the African American community. The tradition predated the importance of the famous 1862 Watch Night Services and originated with the Moravians in Germany many years earlier. The first Methodist church in America to celebrate Watch Night in the 1700s was St. George United Methodist Church in Philadelphia, the home church of Bishop Richard Allen, co-founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. However, it has become particularly important in the Black Church, with its evolution in the early to mid-1800s. The word evolved from “Freedom’s Eve” to “Watch Night” as the freed and enslaved blacks “watched” the clock strike 12 midnight, turning the course of the Civil War and freeing three million slaves in the states of the rebellion. Wishing You The Best in 2018! Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA CDMP, CITM --------------------------- The History Of Watch Night Services In The Black Church by Carole Copeland Thomas With the festivities of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa now on full display, there is still time to reflect on the ritual of my ancestors and many other African Americans, whose forefathers sat around campfires and wood stoves in the twilight of December 31, 1862. There they sang spirituals acapella, prayed, and thanked the Good Lord for what was about to happen the next day. In the North, Abolitionists were jubilant that the “peculiar institution” was finally about to get dismantled one plantation at a time. The booklet, Walking Tours of Civil War Boston sites this about this historic event: “On January 1, 1863, large anti-slavery crowds gathered at Boston’s Music Hall and Tremont Temple to await word that President Abraham Lincoln had issued the much-anticipated Emancipation Proclamation (EP). Those present at the Music Hall included Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe, poets Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier and essayist, poet and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Also present was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who composed his Boston Hymn to mark the occasion.” Now… Let’s Look Back...154 Years Ago Tonight... It was on January 1, 1863, amidst the cannon fire, gun shots, and burnings at the height of the Civil War that President Abraham Lincoln sealed his own fate and signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It begins with the following decree: Whereas on the 22nd day of September, A.D. 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, towit: "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.” That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States." CAROLE' S TRANSLATION: Effective January 1, 1863 all slaves in the states in rebellion against the Union are free. Technically that is all that President Lincoln could do at the time. He used his wartime powers as Commander in Chief to liberate the "property" of the states in rebellion of the Union. The act did not free the slaves of the Union or border states (Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, or West Virginia) or any southern state under Union control (like parts of Virginia). It would take the 13th Amendment (that freed all slaves in 1865), the Union Army winning the Civil War (April 9, 1865), and the assassination of President Lincoln (shot on April 14th and died on April 15, 1865) for all of the slaves to be freed. That included the liberation of the slaves in rebellious Texas on June 19, 1865 (Juneteenth Day) and finally the ratification of the 13th Amendment on December 18, 1865, giving all black people freedom and permanently abolishing slavery in the US. So in 1862 on the eve of this great era, the slaves "watched", prayed, and waited. My ancestors, including Bishop Wesley John Gaines of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) (a slave in Georgia freed by the EP) and the other three million slaves prayed for divine guidance and an empowered Abraham Lincoln to do the right thing. It is as important today as the tradition of black people eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day for good luck. Following the Emancipation Proclamation slaves were freed in stages, based on where they lived, the willingness of the plantation owner to release them and when Union troops began to control their area. Black educator and community activist Booker T. Washington as a boy of 9 in Virginia, remembered the day in early 1865: “As the great day drew nearer, there was more singing in the slave quarters than usual. It was bolder, had more ring, and lasted later into the night. Most of the verses of the plantation songs had some reference to freedom. ... Some man who seemed to be a stranger (a United States officer, I presume) made a little speech and then read a rather long paper—the Emancipation Proclamation, I think. After the reading, we were told that we were all free, and could go when and where we pleased. My mother, who was standing by my side, leaned over and kissed her children, while tears of joy ran down her cheeks. She explained to us what it all meant, that this was the day for which she had been so long praying, but fearing that she would never live to see.” The longest holdouts were the slaves in Texas, who were not freed until June 19, 1865, two months after the Civil War ended. That day is now celebrated as Juneteenth Day around the United States. That is the history of Watch Night in the African American culture. May you and your family enjoy a spirit-filled New Year throughout 2018. Thank you for ALL of your support you have given to me and my business throughout 2017. -Carole By Carole Copeland Thomas, MBA, CDMP, CITM Her Quiet Confidence Captivates Us All. Her experience and breadth of understanding about the issues facing diversity and inclusion are the reasons why you will want to drink up her every word during our upcoming event. With excitement and enthusiasm, I announce our Luncheon Keynote Speaker at the upcoming November 2nd Multicultural Conference. Dr. Velda McRae Yates is grounded in the interdimensional dynamics of talent acquisition and workplace performance. She will deliver a robust message of inclusion and opportunity that our multigenerational audience will embrace with commitment and passion. Register for our November 2nd Conference and get ready to take your career or business to the next level as soon as get back to work. -Carole Copeland Thomas About VeldaDr. Velda McRae-Yates is a Business leader and Human Resources expert and entrepreneur with more than twenty five years in the field. Her experience is across multiple market sectors including Higher Education, Healthcare, High Tech, Research & Development, Construction, Finance and Nonprofit Media. Dr. McRae-Yates is adept at strategic visioning, diversity & inclusion, process improvement, performance management, organizational assessments, information systems integration, compensation, staff development, training and more. Dr. McRae-Yates is currently the Executive Director of Human Resources at Massachusetts College of Art & Design. She formerly managed the Commonwealth Compact. Their mission is to retain professionals of color in Massachusetts, increase their visibility for board appointments, commissions, and employment. McRae-Yates has designed and delivered Diversity & Inclusion Strategies Conference, worked with industry sectors in building awareness, recruiting for candidates, and providing roundtable sessions for candid conversations on making Massachusetts a more welcoming environment. Dr. McRae-Yates currently serves on the Board for Acre Family Day Care (a nonprofit state agency providing women a pathway to economic independence through the creation of licensed home-based family child care businesses), Harvard Street Neighborhood Health Center, and as Co-Chair of the Marketing, Promotion & Engagement Committee for the Women of the Harvard Club Leadership Committee. She also works with the Council on Aging in delivering training on Behavioral Interviewing Skills for employees in transition. She was Chair of the Diversity Committee that initiated the Annual Diversity Dinner, now a flagship annual event, with the Northeast Human Resources Association, as well as Chair of their Special Interest Committee. Other memberships and volunteer engagements include, National Association for African Americans in Human Resources, former member of the Association for Affirmative Action Professionals, The Boston Consortium, and the New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, and former facilitator for the Boston Management Consortium. Dr. McRae-Yates has also taught undergraduate and graduate courses at Bentley University, Springfield College, Berklee College of Music, and Lesley University. She has done consulting projects in the healthcare and nonprofit arenas, and presented at the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity, Northeast Human Resources Conference, and career symposiums, and published work on Institutionalizing Diversity. Dr. McRae-Yates holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Organizational Behavior, a Master of Science in Applied Management from Lesley University, and a PhD in Organizational Development and Change with a focus on institutionalizing diversity from Union Institute and University. Dr. McRae-Yates is also a Cornell Certified Diversity Practitioner, and is certified to administer the BarOn Emotional Intelligence Quotient Inventory from Multi-Health Systems, Inc., Ontario, Canada.
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