Articles

At the beginning of last fiscal year (July 2020), VISIONS was tasked with revising and updating our employee handbook. During that process, we were presented with latest research when deciding how to update our leave policy for staff. This was important as our entire office was now remote due to COVID-19. The options we were…

Author: Valerie Batts, Ph.D. ​In this newly revised article, Dr. Valerie Batts offers personal reflections on and responses to the social history of oppression and racially-motivated violence in the United States. ​“Is Reconciliation Possible” examines, both in the U.S. and South Africa, the concept of covert and systemic “modern racism” and outlines a model for combating…

Author: Thomas Shelden Griggs, Ph.D. Assumptions & Critical Success Factors In this article, VISIONS consultant Dr. Thomas Griggs offers an important look at what it takes to create a successful Inclusive Diversity Initiative, emphasizing the process-oriented nature of managing such a project. While presenting the extremely complex contexts that surround these initiatives, Dr. Griggs sets forth…

Author: Joseph Bragdon According to author Joseph Bragdon, firms that mimic living systems emphasize the importance of putting a higher value on people and nature than capital assets. With this operating principle and model of business, firms create spontaneous demand to live harmoniously and respectfully with the systems on which we all depend. These firms,…

Author: Derald Wing Sue Through personal narrative and social psychological research, Derald Wing Sue examines the subtle biases that communicate hostile and derogatory insults toward people of color on a daily basis. Sue categorizes some common forms of microaggressions and uses the White counselor-client of color dyad to illustrate how they impair the development of…

Author: Josephine “Jo” Bowens Lewis, PsyD I’m often aware of my father’s presence in the context of working with people. He had a capacity to articulate meaning in words. He certainly was verbose, yet when he spoke, he had something to say. As a minister, he had a gift of speaking to people according to…

Author: Felipe Garcia With the changing landscape of the global economy, this article by VISIONS consultant Felipe Garcia examines the need for more effective cross-cultural communication in the workplace. A part of this communication system, Garcia argues, is to become more understanding of the ways that our feelings are internal indicators of need or want…

Author: Roberto Lovato In “Fear of a Brown Planet”, Roberto Lovato traces the emergence of a “politics of white fear” rooted in California and spreading across the country. This movement represents an attempt to “redefine who is racial victim and who is racial oppressor, neatly inverting—and co-opting—the arguments and terms of the civil rights movement.”…

Author: Peggy McIntosh In another classic article from Peggy McIntosh, white privilege is recognized and unpacked as it relates to crime, courts and the law. McIntosh points out how color seems to affect whether a person is viewed as criminal and the importance of learning to see privilege as such by broadening racial and social…

Author: Cooper Thompson, M.S. In this article, Cooper Thompson examines white male denial about oppression and some of the barriers to change around diversity work experienced by white males. Through the presentation, he makes suggestions for overcoming these barriers and recognizing privilege that include finding ways to embrace—with head and heart—their role in changing cultural…