[ Music ]
>> Morning.
>> Good morning.
I'd like to welcome you all to our second day
of Reverend Dr. Jamie Washington to Sonoma State University.
This is actually Dr. Washington's either second
or third visit.
He's trying to remember how long ago it's been,
but his most recent visit was either in the late '90s
or the early 2000s, when he was here last.
So he'll give you a little bit of information,
and talk to you a little bit about people
who have mentored him, and have been relevant in his life
as he's made this journey as a person who is helping us
to get to the next round.
To understand what we need to do as trustees
of our own personal communities, and how we can make
that difference in our students' lives.
And so, it's really a pleasure to have a friend
and colleague here today.
I do need to say, as a matter of housekeeping, that we are --
this, so if you choose not to be in the video,
you need to let us know, or back out [laughter] --
not of the session, back out the frame.
Dr. Washington will integrate the audience
as he delivers his message, so we don't get
to be passive participants,
as you would not be a passive participant in the life
of equity, diversity, and inclusivity.
Inclusivity means that exactly.
You will be included [laughter].
So understand, if you don't want to be in the frame,
you probably need to go back that way.
Let me give you a little bit of information.
Yesterday, Dr. Washington spent time
with the student affairs staff.
That's where he came out of.
We have been colleagues for a number of years.
One of the things that we do annually
for at least the last six or seven years is
that Dr. Washington and I both are on the Academy
for the African-American Male Institute for NASPA,
which is the largest student affairs organization
in the world.
And we both happen to be partners, as we are faculty
as well as co-directors in this program.
But what you'll get to see --
if you have not seen or have not experienced Dr. Washington,
what you will see today, and I think what the folks walked away
with yesterday, and one of my exec teams said
in a meeting the other day --
Dr. Washington will touch your soul.
I had a couple of my staff members this morning that said
to me, "Doc, can I just have Dr. Washington just follow me
around in life?"
[Laughter] I won't mention your name, Rachel [assumed spelling].
So [laughter] -- so the first thing I'd
like to do is really go through --
because my staff pretty much knows of Dr. Washington,
but I'd like to read a little bit
about my colleague, and what he has done.
He's currently the president and founder
of the Washington Consulting Group.
He was named by economists as one
of the top 10 global diversity consultants in the world.
He is the president and co-founder
of the Social Justice Training Institute, and president
of ACPA, which is our second-largest international
organization, which is American College Educators International.
Dr. Washington has served as an educator
and administrative consultant
in higher education for over 34 years.
He doesn't look it, but black don't crack [laughter].
Anyway --
[ Laughter ]
-- Jamie -- [laughter] -- I give him --
Jamie is invested in working with organizations
to build capacity for greater inclusion and effectiveness.
He works with campus leaders, staff, faculty, and students
to create a culture that values respect and includes all
of its members, while helping organizations
and campuses address the historical
and the residual impacts of exclusion.
Leadership change management and social justice issues are
at the core of his work.
Dr. Washington earned a B.S. degree
from Slippery Rock State College, a double master's
of science degrees from Indiana University Bloomington,
and a Ph.D. in college student development from the University
of Maryland College Park, and master's of divinity
from Howard University's School of Divinity.
He's a member of the Omicron Delta Kappa Golden Key --
and Golden Key, Alpha Phi Omega, Phi Delta Kappa,
and a life member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.
He also serves as the pastor of United Fellowship Church
of Baltimore, and is a grandfather of seven,
and a great-uncle to seven.
You are prolific [laughter].
His hobbies include -- are cooking, laundry --
man, I did not know that about you.
Out of all these years --
[laughter] because I got some bags for you [laughter].
Comedy shows, binge watching TV series --
okay, so his most current binge watching is --
come on, tell the truth.
>> The Walking Dead.
>> The Walking Dead [laughter], and I told --
because they were -- secrets yesterday [laughter],
and one of my favorite -- and the other thing, too,
that Jamie is fascinating --
you need to know Jamie also is a very accomplished musician,
and has a beautiful voice.
And maybe, today, we'll get him just to do a little bit
in his presentations, because I have seen Jamie
when he's done presentations and he has sung
to his audience, and he blows us away.
So I have to tell you, he is absolutely masterful,
and I don't pay you no more for that.
That's --
>> Extra [laughter].
>> -- so with that in mind, I am so proud and honored
to have a colleague that I have known for over decades to come
to our institution to share his knowledge and expertise,
and take us to the next round.
A friend, colleague, and my heart, Dr. Jamie Washington.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you.
Good morning.
>> Morning.
>> So it is indeed a pleasure to be here.
I am so honored, so humbled by that introduction.
I -- Greg and I have been connected for many, many years,
and it's just -- it's good to have friends,
and to have friends that you can count on,
and that you can call on, and folks who really kind of trust
in the work of your calling, and the work that you've been doing.
So everywhere Greg goes, I go,
and I'm great -- [laughter] right?
So that's what he was saying.
[Laughter] so it is just wonderful to be here,
and it's so good to see so many of you.
I was saying, I cannot remember if this is the second
or third visit, but I know that one of my visits --
one of the folks who brought me here was a --
is a dear colleague, mentor, and friend,
and that's in the person of Chuck Brooks.
And so, he is my father in the field,
and so some of you may know him.
And I understand he is going to be around today at some point,
and so I don't know if we're going to actually get
to hug each other in person, but he is that person
who set an example for me,
as I was a young professional starting out.
So Sonoma has always meant a lot to me, because Chuck was here.
And so, I always knew of Sonoma, because Chuck was here,
and then I got to visit at one time.
And so, today, folks, what I get to do in the world --
and I was sharing with some folks yesterday,
wonderful students yesterday, and some of the other staff.
And so, I want to appreciate the folks
who are the folks behind the scenes
that make it possible for me to show up.
And so I want to appreciate -- I want to appreciate Rachel,
and their labor for being such amazing and wonderful hosts,
and -- to my new mentee and friend,
Tremaine [assumed spelling], for the good conversation
and time we spent together yesterday.
So thank you so much for that.
What I get to do in the world today is, I get to spend time
in the place that's home for me,
and higher education is home for me.
While I've done a lot of work both in corporate,
and government, and nonprofit organizations,
higher education is the space where I found my voice.
So this year marks 40 years.
Forty years ago, this fall,
I landed at Slippery Rock State College.
Yes, I was a young lander, but --
[laughter] I landed at Slippery Rock State College
as a first-year student, and I shared with Andre yesterday
that I didn't come in through the Trio Programs,
but the Trio Programs were home for me.
So I was a musician.
I auditioned.
I came in through the music program, but where most
of the folks who looked like me were was in Trio.
And so, I got very much connected to that community,
and from the first semester, was very much a part
of the Trio experience.
The Trio experience was the experience that made my journey
through Slippery Rock one that was successful.
So for all of my Trio workers in the room,
I want to say thank you for your work and your labor,
for access to the experience of higher education.
So I landed at Slippery Rock State College,
and I landed there as a young child
from inner-city north Philadelphia,
not knowing where I was going and what I was doing, and,
you know, I was not discouraged from going to college,
but I wasn't encouraged to go to college.
That was the experience that I had, but when I got there,
I discovered this thing called higher ed,
and student affairs, and opportunities.
And so, here I am today, 40 years later.
I left the campus proper in 2001,
and I left that to answer a call to ministry.
I thought, in fact, I would head off to divinity school,
leave divinity school, and then go back to work.
That was the plan.
The universe had a different plan.
And so, the next round for me was
to serve higher education in this way.
And this way is to help institutions prepare
for the next round.
And so, as I start my session today, I want to invite you
into a conversation about building capacity
for greater inclusion.
It takes a whole campus to do the work
for the next round, right?
So previously, in the former rounds, in the '80s, and '90s,
and all those that came before us, all of that work mattered,
and much of the work of inclusion was siloed
to minoritized spaces.
You take care of that, women's center.
You take care of that, accessibility office.
You take care of that, ethnic studies.
You take care of that, multicultural affairs.
We're glad you're here, but you do that.
The next round is going to require
that we all build our capacity to engage a greater
and more inclusive campus environment,
and that's what I'm here about.
So I don't assume that, because it wasn't in your title,
that you weren't doing the work, all right?
So know that some of us have been at this for a long time.
My work today is about the upgrading,
and how we prepare for the next round.
So now we've got about an hour, 75 minutes or so to be engaged,
and as Greg named that it is my intention
to at least have a little bit of engagement as I try
to share some critical things for the next round, okay?
I shared with a group yesterday.
How many of you remember technology
from the '80s [laughter]?
How about technology from the '90s?
The groups are getting younger and younger, so --
so what I realized is, some folks don't remember technology
from the '80s or the '90s [laughter],
but they may have heard of it, and they may have seen it.
So dial-up, and you got mail, and mobile phones, bag phones
and all that kind of stuff.
And so, what I have experienced as I move about the country is
that lots of campuses are trying to do diversity
and inclusion work with 1980s technology, and in order for us
to be effective, we have to upgrade.
And that's what the intention is in our time today.
So together, and -- because I had a talk --
the opportunity to sit
with President Judy [assumed spelling] yesterday,
and so together -- senior leaders --
together, we are talking about moving Sonoma to the next level
of greatness, and what it means to upgrade our work.
With that named, I want to start
by honoring the land that we're on.
That's an upgrade for me, because I didn't always --
I wasn't always conscious of the space that we occupy.
And so, we start with the land acknowledgement,
of Native American and indigenous folks,
whose land we are on, who -- whose land was taken,
who did the work so that we could even be
in this space today.
So we honor those named and unnamed folks
of indigenous descent.
We honor the legacies of those who helped to build this place,
those who -- some who came voluntarily
to these shores, and some who didn't.
We recognize that many
who helped build it did not have access to it.
So we honor that history and those experiences.
We honor all of the shoulders that we stand on.
I shared with a group yesterday --
yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the assassination
of Harvey Milk, and so, for all the social justice warriors
who've been about the work of creating greater inclusion,
we take a moment to just breathe in.
We stand on your shoulders, those who made it possible
for us to have a room that even looked like this,
because that was not always the case.
With that, where I hope to go today in our short amount
of time is to deepen the level of authentic conversation
and engagement about and across difference.
And so, I want to have an opportunity for you
to just have some conversations where you can go deeper
in your level of real talk.
I said to the group, "How many of you know when to be honest
without being fully authentic, tell the truth
but not say everything?"
Right? I like that blouse.
I wouldn't wear that skirt [laughter].
Now, while I didn't lie, I didn't say everything, right?
How many of you would agree
that we sometimes have these conversations up here,
the "I like that blouse" conversation,
and not the "I wouldn't wear it with that skirt"?
The upgrade is going to require that you develop capacity
to have the "I wouldn't wear it with that skirt" conversation
in your units, in your groups, as a campus,
in order for us to move forward.
That's the work for us.
To discuss the importance of creating a learning environment,
we are talking about what it means to be in a space,
or in a community where it's okay not to know.
So one of the challenges of this round is,
there is an expectation that you know something.
There's an expectation
that you're woke, if you would, right?
How many folks have heard the term woke, right?
And we can get into this notion of woke Olympics, right?
Who's more woke than the other person?
And what we can do in that space is do harm, and silence folks
who might not show up or appear woke enough.
I like to create an environment where it's okay
to be waking up, right?
You don't have to be woke in the room, but you need
to be waking up, okay, and that's the work.
Today, consider some effective tools
for building an inclusive community.
So what are the tools that you need?
So again, we come to these spaces.
We have these great opportunities to do learning,
and we might have some deeper levels of conversation,
but are we clear about the tools that we walk out with,
so that we can put those tools into practice,
and begin the process, and continue the journey
for building a more inclusive community?
And, finally, that you offer some -- the most important tool,
which is you, to begin to think about how does being me matter
in the context of building a more inclusive Sonoma
State University.
That's where we're going in our time together.
I believe that all of that starts with building community,
and so I'm going to ask my friends who are passing
out the worksheets for me, please, to get those passed out.
Once everyone gets a worksheet, we're going to be in this kind
of -- more in social gathering for a few minutes so we can get
into what I believe is one of the most important skills,
and that is the skill of engagement in this conversation.
I'm so glad we got students in here.
Where my students at?
Students in the room?
Some students -- where faculty -- any faculty in the room?
Some staff -- staff -- might be staff, all right,
from all over -- yeah, come on in, and if there's a seat next
to you, let folks know that there's seats next to you
as folks are coming in, as we're getting together.
Excellent, excellent, excellent.
All right.
Make sure you get a handout.
If you don't have a handout, you should put your hand up, say,
"I need a handout," make sure folks give you a handout.
Everyone needs a handout, all right?
So for the next few minutes, here's what you're going to do.
You're going to rise, if you're able,
from where you are, move about the room.
If anyone is not able to rise, please pay attention to that,
and their hand might be up saying, "I'm free.
I need somebody to talk to," right?
So pay attention.
So you're going to --
does anyone in the room know everybody?
It has been my experience that that is seldom the case.
The skill needed for the next round is,
we need to be a community with the people
who decided to come to this.
This was not a required session.
You need to know who wanted to come, and so,
we must be in community together as we move Sonoma
to the next round with the folks who decided to come.
That's the first part of the work, right?
Now, I know that some of you are in here looking around saying,
"Oh, yeah, I knew who was coming.
I knew she was going to come."
Same people -- always same people.
These ain't the people who need to be here [laughter].
So let that go.
I know that's in some of you, right?
You know, why isn't this person here?
Why isn't -- my experience has been that, when I go into a room
like this, people all say, "Well,
he's just preaching to the choir."
Well, you know, this isn't the folks who need to be here.
Now, Greg already named that I have a lot of experience
in music, and I've had 40 years
of experience as a music minister.
And one of the things I know about choirs is,
choirs need rehearsal.
So all of you who identify as choir members
in this conversation, it's time for practice.
Part of the challenge is, sometimes the choir only comes
when we're doing their song, and so --
and the choir can be the main reason nobody's coming
to the building.
So, today, I want you to pay attention to how, as the people
who would have decided to come to this,
are you bringing others along?
So as we move to the next round, we have to pay attention
to our roles in bringing people along.
What you're going to do in a few moments is, you're going to get
up from your seat if you're able.
You're going to go to a person, and you're going to say, "Hi."
>> Hi.
>> Hi, what's your name?
>> Alisa [assumed spelling].
>> Hi, Alisa?
>> Alisa.
>> Alisa -- Alisa and I are going to have an opportunity
to check -- we're all going to check in around the first box.
Each person says, "What's" --
whatever has your energy and/or attention.
That could be about life.
That could be about work.
That could be about family -- anything that's true for you.
I'm going to talk about why that box matters,
and why I have everyone start there.
So for students, it might be --
it's getting toward the end of the semester,
and I got one more exam to get through this class, right?
Faculty -- I got these papers to grade.
I got this project.
I got to get ready for Thanksgiving --
I mean, got to get ready for the holidays,
whichever holidays you do, if you do any at this time of year.
It might be about family.
I was sharing with Sue as I was coming in --
my church does a community dinner,
and so we are gathering people to bring food
for this community dinner that we're getting ready to do.
And so, there was this couple that said,
"We will bring two pans of stuffing."
It was like, you're not the people we wanted
to bring stuffing [laughter].
We actually wanted you to bring cups [laughter].
We were having this thing this morning, so we were --
this was my morning, all right?
This [laughter] -- so it might be about life things
that are going on, that you've got up --
so we're trying to figure out how to tell them, "No,
please don't bring stuffing."
So it might be about -- but it might be about work.
It might be about this conversation.
It might be about being in this room again, and wondering
about what's this going to be.
That might be it.
So go there.
The second part, though, is, how are you feeling about being
in a room with this group of people
to have a conversation that's the "I wouldn't wear it
with that skirt" conversation?
Imagine what it would be like if you said in this room the things
that you often don't say, or the things that you say
in the meeting after the meeting [laughter].
So what feelings come up for you, as you consider having
that level of conversation in the room, all right?
We're not going to ask you to get under it.
I'm just going to ask you to share it.
Does that make sense?
Because we don't have a lot of time, but I'm going to talk
about why that box is critical as we move to the next level.
So after we have had our opportunity,
about two to three minutes together,
then I'll move to my next friend.
What's your name?
>> Vanessa [assumed spelling].
>> Vanessa -- and then Vanessa and I go anywhere
up here we want to go.
So Vanessa might go to what challenges or concerns
that Vanessa experiences with our current, and local,
and national political climate that, you know,
makes this conversation challenging, right?
I might go to an insight that I've had,
and how that's impacted my practice over the last 10 years,
right, or whatever, five years.
One of the insights I've had is
about land acknowledgement, right?
I wasn't doing land acknowledgements five years ago,
right, and so as I've gotten more conscious
about colonization, and the experience of native
and indigenous folk, I show up differently
in a room, because I named that.
Right, so how it's impacted your practice.
If you don't have anything that you've learned
in the last five years that's impacting your practice
around diversity and inclusion, you ain't doing nothing.
All right?
So I want you to allow yourself to be in the place
of that not being wrong, but it being true.
I'm not here to make you wrong, or to judge you.
I'm here for us to get to the truth, so we can decide
where we need to go from there.
Does that land?
Is that landing for you?
Okay, so in a few minutes, I'm going to invite you
to get up, to move around.
The goal is not to get all of this finished.
The goal is to have two to three deeper levels
of authentic conversation in the next five to seven minutes.
That's where you're going, all right?
It's moving us into the practice that's needed
for the next round.
Is that all right, really clear?
And if you find -- if you get up, and you go,
and you look around, and it looks like everybody's talking
to somebody, and nobody picked you, pick somebody.
Pick a group, right.
This is not about being extroverted or cheerleaders.
This is about being able to have a conversation,
one-on-one, right?
I do recognize the realities of anxiety,
that sometimes these rooms and this kind
of engagement can be challenging,
so I am respectful of that.
And if you need a different kind of space,
if you need to pull somebody aside, if you can't hear
in different ways because of the volume in this room,
and you need to pull somebody --
please feel free to do all of that, and it's going to be
so important for us to be engaged with one another.
Make sense?
All right.
Up, if you're able, and move.
[ Multiple Speakers ]
Excellent.
How we doing?
Good? That's real good.
Okay. Let me get your -- you can hear my voice clap one time.
You can hear my voice, clap two times.
Perfect. You're doing amazing,
and here's what I need you to do.
I need you to take the next one minute -- the next 60 seconds.
I want you to say hi to folks that you don't know.
So you're going to say hi to four or five people
that you don't know, haven't met at all, you know,
would be comfortable -- hold on, hold on.
And then, you're going to partner up with someone
that you didn't know at all, or didn't know as well
when you came to the room, and you're going
to sit next to that person.
Now, that might mean you're needing to move your seat,
so we're going to move around a bit in the room,
but you are going to get a partner, one other person.
So repeat after me.
I --
>> I --
>> -- need --
>> -- need --
>> -- a partner --
>> -- a partner --
>> -- someone --
>> -- someone --
>> -- I didn't know at all --
>> -- I didn't know at all --
>> -- or didn't know as well --
>> -- or didn't know as well --
>> -- when I came in the room.
>> -- when I came in the room.
>> And I'm going to sit with them --
>> And I'm going to sit with them --
>> -- after --
>> -- after --
>> -- I say good morning --
>> -- I say good morning --
>> -- to four or five people.
>> -- to four or five people.
>> You have 60 seconds.
Go. All right.
Thank you so much.
All right.
So, give your partner a high-five.
High-five your partner.
If you're in one of those places where you don't want
to touch other people's hands --
[laughter] that's quite all right.
I know that cold season is real, so I just want --
and particularly, what I want you to do right now is connect
to the energy in this space.
And part of giving high-fives,
connecting in that way is about energy, right?
You know, when people see -- when you see people,
and they give -- high-five --
right, that's generally about good energy.
Is that right?
That's a celebration.
That's a connection thing, all right?
So how many of us know
that sometimes these conversations can
be energy-draining?
Sometimes, these issues can drain your energy.
You can look around, and you continue to see things that show
up in ways that don't feel congruent
with our values, and who we are.
And so, how do we keep up our energy in that space?
And so, my intention in the high-five is energy.
My intention in the high-five is also community and connection.
So I wanted you to connect --
start with connecting across departments,
across functional areas, across the campus, across identities,
and begin to have these conversations.
Does that make sense?
Now, how many of you, when you came in the room,
were sitting with folks you knew.
Raise your hand, if you were sitting with folks you knew.
Yep, that's what we do, right?
We go right in, and we go right to where we're comfortable,
and our work is not to do a disservice
or to make comfort bad, but it is to invite us
to expand our comfort zone, right, and --
so I want you to practice moving into spaces,
going to where is unfamiliar to you.
Building relationships across identities, and departments,
and functional areas with the folks
who you wouldn't necessarily.
That's not to say don't connect with people you know.
I haven't seen you since the last meeting six months ago.
Yes, I want to say hi to you, but I don't know this person
at all -- so making sure that we're building those things,
and it must be done intentionally.
How do we tell -- we tell students this all the time,
right?
You need to build it -- move out of your comfort zone.
We tell them all the time, and they don't see us modeling it.
So we have to model it, right?
And so, that's what I'm inviting us to do in our time together.
What I want you to do with your high --
this is your building an inclusive community, BIC --
Bic -- this is your building inclusive community
high-five buddy.
High-five them again.
Everywhere you see this person, anytime on campus,
you will give them a high-five.
Come on back in to the energy of this moment,
that says "We can do this.
We can do this."
So this is about the reminder of the energy,
and the possibility that's in the space.
Here's where I want you to go.
For the next two minutes, with your high-five buddy,
the second box, the middle box right there says
"What have you seen, heard, or experienced
that necessitates this session?"
So as you consider your day-to-day experience --
so as students, as faculty, as stuff, what do you see that says
"We could use an upgrade"?
That's where I want you to go now.
A fine answer to that is -- [laughter] I like people.
People like me.
I treat everybody fairly.
My teacher told us we had to be here [laughter].
If that's your truth, say that.
Whatever your truth is, in the next two minutes,
with your partner, just share that.
We'll come back together.
Four, three, two, one.
Excellent.
High-five your partner.
High-five, high-fives to the room.
Thank you.
Excellent.
Excellent.
Take a deep breath.
Let it out.
One more. Let it out.
And a third.
Let it out.
Very good.
So the next tool I'm going to offer you is the tool
of breathing, all right?
I want you to really embrace breathing as an important tool
for moving your work to the next round.
How many of us know that breathing has saved the day?
Anybody had a moment where, had I not taken a deep breath,
might not have gone so well?
When you take a deep breath,
what does it give you an opportunity to do?
>> Think.
>> Think. Pause.
Process. Right?
Gives me an opportunity to do all of that, and to get clear
about my intentions in my next statement.
So what's your name?
>> Tyson [assumed spelling].
>> Tyson. So Tyson and I are having an engagement.
We've had a bump, right?
And so, when I take a deep breath,
I get clear whether the intention
in my next statement is to share with Tyson the impact
of what happened, how I trust that we are together
as colleagues doing this work, and this was problematic.
Or is my intention to take him out?
[ Laughter ]
Now, how many of us know we can show
up with take-out intentions?
Take-out intentions is about minimizing, dehumanizing,
demonstrating how much more I know than you,
and not respecting that we're all on a journey.
And so, I want you to see the tool of breathing as one
that allows you to get clear about your intentions.
Now, I want you to be mindful
that I'm not telling you what your intention should be.
But I do want you to get clear about what your intention is,
and then own the responsibility
for the impact of how you show up.
Is that landing?
All right, so if I show up in take-out intention,
even if I am justified because of what got said, I still have
to pay attention to the impact.
Does that land?
Makes sense?
All right.
So with that named, where I want us to go, and why I invited us
into this space -- I tell folks all the time
that sometimes folks feel like, you know --
you know, well, we did this icebreaker --
this is not an icebreaker.
If I'd wanted to do an icebreaker, I would've asked you
to talk about your favorite colors.
What this is -- how many of you -- musicians --
where are my musicians in the room?
Some musicians -- how about theory people?
Any theory people?
Theorists -- some theory folks, okay.
How about athletes?
Any athletes?
How about folks who work out regularly,
try to get into the gym once or twice a year, how many folks?
[Laughter] We got some of that, right?
So how many of us know that in all three
of those areas, practice is required?
And if you don't practice, you will show up ineffective
in the game, or at the performance, or on the field.
Is that making sense?
My experience is that many of us in higher education are showing
up to diversity, and inclusion,
and equity issues not having been to practice.
So we show up in the moment, and we do not have the capacity
to engage the conversation.
So what you have been in is practice.
Warm up and practice so that you can be more effective
in the game, for the next round.
Does that make sense to you?
All right.
Now, how many of us know people don't like to go to practice?
People just want to be superstars.
They just want to show up at the performance,
and when you don't do that, when you don't go to practice,
you do harm to yourself and to others, all right?
So I wanted you to pay attention to how much am I in practice.
Do I just go to practice when there is a workshop?
Do I just show up when there is an incident?
I work with a personal trainer.
He reminds me all the time --
Jamie, if you only do your sit-ups
when you see me [laughter], that will impact your results.
Does that make sense?
If you only practice this conversation in the moment
of crisis, or when there is a coach in the room,
that will impact the level of capacity
that you build to be in it.
Is that making sense to you?
So I want you to think about, as we leave here,
how are we practicing this outside
of crisis moments, all right?
With that, all of the questions up here are about the work
that we need to do for the next round.
So we need to get clear in this first box what's up,
what's got our headspace, our cognitive knowing space,
but what's also got our emotional knowing space, right?
So not only what do I think, also what do I feel?
What we traffic in, in higher education, is knowledge.
We will learn the right words.
We will have read the right articles.
We know how to say what privilege is,
but we don't necessarily know how it manifests in us,
and we don't know how it manifested in the meeting,
in the policy, in the practice,
in the ways that we've been operating.
We don't necessarily know how exclusion
or micro-aggressions might be showing
up in our everyday engagement, all right?
Is that making sense to you?
All right, so I want you to pay attention to the realities of --
I've got some cognitive knowing,
but what's important is my emotional knowing as well.
So I asked you to talk about feelings for being engaged
in this conversation, in the "I wouldn't wear it
with that skirt" level, right?
So let me just hear a couple of folks
in the room name feeling -- you don't have to explain it,
but let me just hear some feelings in the room.
And if someone names what it feels like to you,
I want you to join them with a snap, all right?
So if someone names your feeling, join them.
Don't leave them alone.
So let me just hear a couple voices.
Feelings as you think about being in this room,
with this group of people, having the "I wouldn't wear it
with that skirt" conversation, I feel --
>> Excited.
>> -- excited, are excited.
What else?
>> Fearful.
>> Fearful, I heard fearful.
Who is fearful?
I heard anxiety.
Anybody else?
>> Hope.
>> Hope. Okay --
>> Change.
>> -- change.
So the possibility of change leaves you feeling what?
>> Happier.
>> Happier, okay.
All right, so part of what is going to be
for the next round is we're going to need to be
as emotionally intelligent as we are cognitively intelligent.
So I want you to continue to pay attention to what's going
on for you, not just at the head level, but at the heart level,
what's going -- because I can be very cognitively aware,
and know a lot about gender identity, and gender expression.
And when someone is standing in front of me who is nonbinary,
I can be very uncomfortable.
Because I don't know what pronoun to use.
Are you getting me?
So just because I know stuff doesn't mean I feel comfortable
engaging stuff, all right?
I can know all there is to know about folks
from different religious backgrounds and experiences,
but not know how to engage people during Ramadan.
Right? Does that make sense?
So my feeling is anxious.
There's nervousness of, should I ask that?
Can I say that?
So pay attention to both of those.
The other things that are up there --
what's going on in the current climate?
What has been your experience
with these conversations in your department?
So we're here.
Maybe some of your full departments are here,
but some of them are not.
What would it be like to have this conversation
in your department?
How would we be showing up?
Who are the people?
What -- who would be saying what?
What's it like in your department?
Because I want us all to get clear about our folks who are --
whatever you see -- I'm going to come back to that in a moment.
What's some insights?
What's some learning?
So I want us to be able to be in the room where we can share
with one another -- here's how my practice is different,
because I've learned this.
Right, I don't do this in the same way,
because I'm creating greater inclusion, with intention.
How is this work impacting the discipline of my work?
So whether I'm a police officer, or whether I'm in technology,
or whether I'm in communications, or whether I'm
in student life, or student affairs, or whether I'm --
as a faculty member, what did my learning through my discipline,
through the area -- my professional functional area
that is showing up through the lens of diversity and inclusion?
And so, how am I therefore able to talk about it
with colleagues, and so on around that?
And there's a question here around conversations
about race here at Sonoma, and I want you just to pay attention
to how race enters the room, and we'll come back
to that before I wrap up.
But I want -- I asked specifically about race,
and I'm going to talk about why as we move forward.
Does that make sense?
The last question, then, is hopes for our time together,
and I really invite you to pay attention to --
when I come to stuff like this, what do I need to get better?
What do I feel like I need to do in the next round?
What do I need to do to go to the next level?
That's what I want you to pay attention to,
so that you get intentional
about getting those kinds of things, all right?
Maybe I need to look at the next conference I go,
and look at the workshops
that are being offered, and go to that.
Maybe I need to look at the things that are coming
out of the Hub, and go there,
and get myself some increased learning.
Maybe I need to look at what some
of the faculty are doing here on campus,
and go to those spaces and sessions.
Maybe I need to have a real conversation with a person
in my office, so that we can go to a different space.
Does that make sense?
So what do I need to build my own capacity
for greater inclusion.
So I want you to take this worksheet and work it.
The work is right here, in these boxes --
you can build your capacity if you can get to work it.
Does that make sense to you?
All right.
Now, I need two people in the room to tell me what you see
as you consider your day-to-day
that makes this space necessary, two people.
I would prefer a student and a staff person.
Where's my student?
Do I got a student?
And three people, a student, faculty,
and a staff person [laughter].
Okay, that's right, exactly.
So -- and in my head, I was doing faculty/staff,
but I didn't say that.
But let's do faculty, staff, and students, okay?
So, where's the student?
Where's a student?
I need a student.
>> Right here.
>> Okay, I see -- I see -- I see that student, right there.
I need a student who's willing to say what they see
that makes this necessary.
There's one right there.
There's my student.
Where's my faculty?
I need a faculty member.
I need a faculty member.
I'm --
>> Right there.
>> -- a faculty member [laughter].
And -- oh, there it is.
Okay, and staff -- where's the staff person?
Okay, staff person here.
Let me get the student.
Student, what do you see?
Listen, folks.
See what you hear.
Say your name, and what your year is.
>> I'm Melissa [assumed spelling].
I'm a second-year.
>> Great.
>> What I see every day, is I see cisgender,
Caucasian individuals, and I think this is necessary --
we were actually talking about this in our group.
I think it's necessary because, as a student,
being able to learn compassion and empathy is huge.
And I feel like being on this campus, I've been able
to learn it, but with a more diverse community,
and building a sense
of community would allow all students,
not just in certain locales, classes, and Cis,
but all students around the campus.
>> Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
Give me your name again.
>> Melissa.
>> Melissa, no, that's -- appreciate Melissa.
Thank you.
Right here.
>> Hi, everybody.
I'm Carson [assumed spelling].
Most of you know me.
What I experience every day when I advise students is --
sometimes I ask them why they don't go to place X, Y,
and Z and take care of business.
Why do you always got to come seek me out?
And the response I get is, because you make me feel safe.
>> And so folks are looking for a place to feel safe.
>> Somebody that will sit there --
and they don't know to articulate -- they have a need,
but sometimes, they feel safe because I help them pull
out that need, and get their needs met.
>> Okay.
>> So they go, "I feel safe talking to you."
>> Okay. Okay.
Thank you.
How many of us want people to feel safe
when they come to talk to us?
>> Yeah.
>> All right, that's something that we all --
so then, the other thing that we get to do is check out --
am I a safe person for people to come and talk with?
What do folks feel when they come to me,
and what's needed for that, exactly?
I'm going to go here, and then there.
>> So --
>> What's your name, please?
>> -- oh, sorry, Alisa Velasquez [assumed spelling].
I'm the chair of the psychology department,
and what brought me here is what I don't see,
and I don't hear, here at Sonoma State.
And I'm very hopeful for inclusion.
So the fact that we put a lot of emphasis
on diversity doesn't mean
that we are necessarily including people.
So that's what we need right now, you know,
to make it to the next stage.
Personally, as a faculty member, as an expert
on diversity, I feel excluded.
And so I guess that's a challenge, you know,
how to deal from the internal resources that we have.
We have expert in all the fields that we are concerned about,
but we're not collaborating.
We are not developing a plan where everybody feels included.
We have the strategies.
Don't get me wrong, right?
We are trying, but I guess that's the challenge.
>> Thank you.
Thank you.
Thanks so much.
How many folks relate?
Relate -- yes, thank you.
>> Hi. I'm Johanna [assumed spelling]
from early childhood studies.
I think what has been moving us is to be able to talk
about white privilege with our students.
I'm a white privileged person.
I'm an immigrant, but I still have to recognize
that I'm very privileged.
And it's very difficult for us to have that conversation
with our students, and I would like to --
>> Sure, sure, thank you.
Thank you.
Who relates?
All right, so the power folks are raising here --
so whose voice gets heard?
Are we taking advantage?
Are we collaborating with the internal campus resources
and experts that are there?
How do we show up in that?
Are we paying attention, and knowing the challenge of moving
to the next level is inviting us
into a conversation on privilege, right?
The work of the '80s -- the technology from the '80s
and the '90s did not have us engaging privilege.
We were engaging We Are The World.
We were colorblind.
We were not seeing race.
Does that make sense?
Right? And, folks, I want you to hear
that I'm not making any of that bad or wrong.
It was useful in the time, just like dial-up was [laughter].
It was cutting-edge.
It was new.
It was addressing an issue at the time.
We are in a different place today,
and we need upgraded technologies.
Does that make sense?
See, part of the reason I want everybody answering
that box is because, when you leave here,
I want you to be able to talk about why you came, right?
And so, often, in the work,
folks don't know why they are participating in these spaces.
I guess it's supposed to be the right thing to do,
but I want you really clear about why this matters.
When your colleagues ask you, "So, what was your morning?
What'd you do?"
And you say that you went to this, and they say,
"Oh, why'd you do that?"
You need an answer, and you need an answer that has something
to do with what you're doing here at Sonoma.
So what do you see in your work every day
that makes it necessary for us to be here, okay?
What I want to offer as we move
into this conversation is this saying.
Why are we here?
I want to talk about the business case
for higher education.
The primary role of higher education is
to prepare the next generation of leaders.
When I'm in different spaces, what I do is,
I offer the business case for the work.
One of the challenges is, folks often see this conversation
as a leftist liberal agenda.
And while some of this shares the values of those on the left,
our job is to prepare the next generation of leaders.
That is our product.
Does that make sense to you?
If we are graduating students
who don't know they've been raced, we are failing them.
If we don't -- if we are graduating students
who don't recognize how their class background
and other social identities are impacting the lens
through which they operate in the world, we have failed them.
Does that make sense to you?
So the next generation of leaders will need the skills,
the capacity, and the ability to engage with, about,
and across difference.
That's our job.
Is that clear?
So when folks ask you why we doing this,
say, "I'm doing my job."
And so, it is important that we as students understand that,
and that we as faculty and staff understand -- I cannot go --
I can't send our next generation of students into a courtroom,
into a schoolhouse, into a hospital, who don't know how
to engage across race, who don't know how to engage,
and don't know the difference between gender identity
and sexual orientation.
If I do that, I have failed them.
Is that making sense to you?
All right.
So we are charged with preparing them to engage effectively.
Whether they choose to do that or not, that's not our part.
Our part is to help them to understand the importance
of why it's necessary, if you're going to be a sociologist,
or a schoolteacher, or a musician, or a preacher,
or a pastor, or a rabbi, or a parent.
You might need to know how to talk to your child
when they come home and say,
"My friend Johnny said he's not a boy.
He says he's a girl.
Can boys be girls?"
Do I have the capacity to have that conversation with my child,
and then with my partner, and then with my parents?
Am I making sense to you?
Are you getting it?
Right? How do we talk about race?
How do we talk about class?
How do we talk about religion?
That's our work for the next round.
So with that named, what I want
to offer you are some critical skills and tools for being able
to create the learning environment.
So we want to create spaces that are open and honest,
where all perspectives are valued and welcome,
that we can speak from our personal experiences using
"I" statements, but allowing space for folks to speak
in the collective, the "we," right?
I want us to be able to listen respectfully.
That's seeking to understand, to be open to new perspectives,
to take risk, and prepare to engage conflict and discomfort.
Say that one with me.
Take risks, prepare to engage conflict and discomfort.
Tell your partner.
>> Take risks, prepare to engage conflict and discomfort.
>> Folks, part of the upgrade, part of the next round
of skills will require that we're able
to be comfortable being uncomfortable, all right?
And one of the dilemmas is that we want to keep it nice.
I shared with the folk yesterday "California nice."
Right? Right?
And -- so when somebody asks you what California nice was,
California nice is, "Well, we are diverse.
So I've got diverse friends.
I grew up with diversity, and diversity is all around us.
And so, you know, we get it."
So we don't need to talk about it.
Am I making sense?
Right? So I really do want you to pay attention to --
what happens in places like California,
is that we confuse proximity with capacity.
I went to school with one.
I actually -- my best friend is one.
I took a class.
How many folks know you can have a best friend who --
across race, and never talk about race?
Okay. Now some folks will say you ain't got a real friend,
then, but I really want you to pay attention to this notion
that just because we are together doesn't mean we're
engaging across the difference.
And I want you think about in your own lives how
that shows up.
All right, is that making sense?
So it means being prepared to engage conflict and discomfort,
being willing to move up and to move back.
Is my voice, my perspective always in?
If it is, maybe I need to move back
so we create spaces for others.
If I'm never in, maybe I need to move up, right?
It's practice in that discussion.
Recognize and explore your triggers.
How many folks in the room has ever been triggered?
Anybody knows anything about triggers?
All right.
So, triggers generally create a fight or a flight response.
In neither one of those spaces are you effective engaging.
If I'm taking you out, or if I'm gone out,
I'm not engaging, all right?
So what's important for the upgrade is
to pay attention to your triggers.
When do I get triggered?
What gets named?
What gets said?
What happens yet again?
What got left out again this time that has me go
to fight mode, or take-out mode, fight mode or freeze mode,
right, or flight mode, or freeze -- fight, flight, or freeze?
What's the stuff, so that I can do the work that I need to do
to heal, so that that stimulus doesn't keep taking me there?
Because the trigger is actually in you.
The thing is just out there.
It is the meaning that you make of it
that creates the reaction that you have to it.
Does that make sense to you?
Are you getting that?
So what's the stuff that I get triggered around?
And if we had a lot of time, we could just do a whole rest
of the session on triggers, right?
But triggers is a very important thing,
because I have experienced folks in the room who have shut
down because of triggers, right?
So pay attention to that.
To trust intent, name, explore, and engage impact, right?
So the importance of recognizing that, for the most part --
for the most part, we get up every day --
most people get up every day trying to do their very best.
Most folks don't get up trying to do harm, right?
Most folks don't come to campus saying, "I'm looking
to piss off the black people today, so let me figure
out what I can say racist,
who I can skip over, who I can leave out.
Who -- let me see."
Most folks don't get up with that conscious intention.
Am I making sense?
Now, folks, you heard me say most.
I'm not trying to say that that doesn't exist in some spaces,
but in the work that we're doing, I would argue
that most of us don't do that.
But how many folks know well-intentioned people do harm
every day?
Every day, right?
So in my acknowledgement of the assassination of Harvey Milk,
I neglected to acknowledge the acknowledgement --
the assassination of the mayor.
That had an impact in the room.
Someone shared that with me.
Now, I know that I didn't get up with that intention,
but it did have an impact.
Is that making sense?
So what I want you to pay attention to is, are you able
to hear the impact that you had without needing
to explain your intention?
Can I -- we've had a moment, again --
Tyson and I keep having moments [laughter].
Had a moment, and I have done something that has created harm,
and Tyson begins to share with me that I have done something
that has created harm.
And I spend my time explaining my intention
without demonstrating that I have heard or learned
from the impact before I did it.
Well, oh, you know, I would never --
you know, my best friend is -- and I go into credential mode.
I've got to list all the ways
that that could not have been racist.
And so I'm in that space,
and what I am doing is re-traumatizing,
because I'm showing up in a way that demonstrates I'm not able
to hold that I could have done something,
even unintentionally, that created harm.
Now, don't get me wrong.
Your intention does matter, right?
It does matter, so pay attention to that.
But in the moment, pay attention to not focusing
on your intention, but learning from the impact.
Does that land?
Is that making sense?
Right? The last part of this --
this piece here is trust intent --
one of the things that happens is, we sometimes trust intent
out of trying to keep it nice.
We stop and trust intent.
So Tyson might've had that bump and said, "Well, that was Jamie.
He probably didn't mean it.
You know, he's one of the good ones.
He's a good one.
You know, he does diversity work,
so there's no possible way that he meant that."
So he doesn't tell me the impact.
What he in fact has done there is set me up.
Because chances are, I didn't even know I did that,
and I didn't know what I did had that impact.
So to not name the impact is dishonoring and disrespectful.
In some places, I say it's a very unloving thing to do,
because chances are, I would do it again to someone else.
Does that make sense to you?
So sometimes, we intend to be nice, and trust impact,
but when we don't' share,
really what we do is then create more harm.
Right? That make sense to you?
So trusting intent, naming -- impact.
The last thing -- the next thing is trust
that the dialogue will take us to deeper levels
of understanding, and accept that you must believe that,
as we come together to do this work --
my friend, Dr. Latricia Flash [assumed spelling]
at the University of -- she did her doctoral work
at the University of Vermont,
and now is a chief diversity officer
in Brooklyn College of Music.
But her work was on creating institutional
or organizational change through a diversity lens
in higher education.
The number one thing that impacts the success
of being able to do that is this -- bringing together faculty,
staff, and students for shared learning
and common ground, number one thing.
So this is the best practice, right?
So I want you to -- high-impact practice.
The challenge is, if it stops here, it doesn't matter.
But this work in this way -- so what I'm saying is,
we must trust that these moments, these opportunities
to listen, to hear, learn, engage with one another,
will take us to deeper levels of understanding and acceptance.
If you don't, it won't work.
So if you show up -- like, if you came to this meeting,
came to this session saying, "I know need to be there,
because people will notice if I'm not," you show up in here,
and you said to your administrative assistant,
or secretary, or someone, "Text me in 20 minutes
with an emergency, so I can get out of there,"
then you're performing.
So you show up here in performance,
not in real engagement.
So I want you to pay attention to --
do I perform a valuing of diversity and inclusion,
or do I show up actually in spaces to do the work?
Does that make sense to you?
Are you getting that?
So trust that the dialogue will take us to deeper levels
of understanding, and the last thing is to have some fun.
Where my fun people at?
Any fun people in the room [laughter]?
Fun people, raise your hand high.
Fun people, I need some -- fun people --
how about the fun people?
A round -- fun people --
So, folks, here's what I want you to get really deeply.
If you don't take anything else from my comments today,
fun people -- if the only time we come to the conversation
of diversity, equity, and inclusion is when it's --
when we're in crisis, or something has happened,
the problem of diversity -- nobody wants to be in that.
We're not moving toward that.
And so, I'm not saying just do food festivals,
holidays, and heroes.
That's not what I'm saying.
I do want you to do some of that, but I do want us also
to be able to be in the joy of engaging across difference.
Jamie, my pronouns are he, him, and his.
What I'm learning as a cisgender person are these things,
and how I navigate the planet,
and things that I get to think about.
Here's how I messed up last week, and here's what I --
I just watched this show.
I just learned -- the fun, the joy of our learning,
based upon our identities, and what we get to do,
and what we don't get to do.
Does that make sense to you folks?
And so, if we can be together in the joy,
we will have the capacity to hang in there in the struggle.
If we only come together in the struggle,
we will have not built the capacity to be
in there with each other.
Am I making sense?
A colleague of mine says,
"Where there's no relationship, there's no grace."
And so, if I don't have relationship with -- right?
If I don't have relationship with you, I'm not likely
to give you the benefit of the doubt, right?
Where there's no relationship, there's no grace.
So what I want you to do, before I move to last piece,
is I want you to turn to your partner,
and share with your partner what up there you know you do well.
Every day, as I come to school, as I come to work,
I know that I do open and honest communication well.
I know that I do listening respectfully.
People always tell me how much they appreciate feeling heard
around me, all right, feeling safe with me.
I know I do that well.
So you've got one minute.
Share what you do well.
Don't focus on anything you need to work on, all right?
Don't focus on any of that, just what you do well.
One minute, go, share with your partner.
Three, two, one.
High-fives.
High-five to the room.
All right.
So here's what I want to say, folks.
I've spent the last 30 years
of my professional career doing this work,
and I go into rooms all over the country.
We create spaces where people can agree
to operate in this way.
Folks agree to do that in the room, leave the room,
and leave this agreement in the room,
and then wonder why nothing changes.
What we know, those of us who have been in
and are doing this work, is you must practice this in order
for change -- if you leave the room, and stop being open
and honest -- if you leave the room,
and stop allowing all voices to be valid and heard --
if you leave the room, and stop trusting intent, but naming
and exploring impact, you will maintain status quo.
You get me?
So, as we talk about real tools,
this is what you must take with you to practice.
In addition to your high-five buddy,
in addition to the energy, in addition to the breathing,
you must take this with you, and you must operate out of it.
So how many of you can identify something you know you do well?
Who could do that?
Right? Here's your charge for the remainder of the year
into 2019 -- the academic year, not just the [laughter] --
the remainder of the whole academic year, simply do that.
Just do what you do well, and watch what happens.
Just do what you do well, and watch what happens.
We cannot be the same if we practice doing these things,
particularly through the lens of diversity
and inclusion, all right?
Who's been in a space where you have clearly --
something has happened.
Somebody said something,
and everybody went like this [laughter].
Who's been there?
If you're open and honest, if you take risks,
your role at that moment is to raise your hand.
Something just happened, and it happened after you said that.
And I know we're at the end of the meeting,
and we don't have a lot of time, but we cannot pretend
like that didn't happen.
And in order for us to move forward, I need us to commit
to coming back to that conversation.
Will that shift the dynamic?
Absolutely shifts the dynamic.
What you have to do, then, is what?
>> Take risks.
>> Prepare to engage conflict and discomfort.
So moving into this work, folks,
for the next round means we've got to get ready to be in spaces
where it's not going to be easy all the time.
If you're practicing this, if you're listening respectfully,
and you hear and you see that somebody is not being heard,
and you interrupt that process and say, "I'm not sure
that you're hearing her," you're going to create space
for conflict and discomfort.
Does that make sense to you?
So we must practice those things.
Is that landing?
High-five your partner.
When you see them anywhere, you're going to say,
"Work your strength [laughter].
Making sure you're working your strength."
You're going to remind them.
If they're walking down the hall, and you can't get to them,
air high-five [laughter].
Remind them that we must be in active practice
in order to shift the dynamic.
Does that make sense?
So the last thing I want to say, folks --
and I know we're out of time,
but I want to invite us into this piece.
And I really so much appreciate -- Dr. Alise --
>> Alisa.
>> -- Alisa saying the importance
of us really being able
to navigate the notion of inclusion.
So when you hear the words diversity and inclusion,
what's the difference?
What is the difference in diversity and inclusion?
It's this, right?
What's your name?
Chickeela [assumed spelling].
>> To me, diversity is a lot of different people in the room,
but inclusion is when everyone's included into the community.
>> So -- Nikeela [assumed spelling]?
>> Chickeela named -- diversity is when a lot
of different people in the room, inclusion is
when everyone is included in the room.
That work for people?
What else?
Anybody else?
One more voice?
What does it mean?
So lots of times, I'm on campuses, and we're talking
about diversity, equity, and inclusion work,
folks don't know what we're talking about.
What does that mean for you?
So when you hear that, what does it mean, right?
What I want to offer is that lots of folks are trying
to do inclusion without owning exclusion.
We would have no need to do inclusion work
if there wasn't some people who'd already been already
included, and some folks who'd been excluded.
Is that landing?
So how many of you believe, in the current time,
that there's still groups of people who get treated here,
and groups of people who get treated here,
and this is alive and well today?
Does this exist around race?
>> Yes.
>> Class?
>> Yes.
>> Gender?
>> Yes.
>> Gender identity?
>> Yes.
>> Sexual orientation?
>> Yes.
>> Religion?
>> Yes.
>> Faiths, practices, beliefs, right?
Age?
>> Yes.
>> Okay, you get what I'm saying?
So we all agree that this dynamic exists.
The next thing, though, is in order for the rest of this work
to matter, you must have a problem with that.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> This is not a value-less proposition.
If you say this is true, you guys have a problem with it,
and then you get to decide --
what's my part in keeping this alive and well,
and what do I get to do to help shift it?
Now, the shift is not from here to here,
but I talk about the shift is from here
to here, to here, all right?
Now, I sometimes refer to that
as "with liberty and justice for all."
Now, I read that somewhere.
That's -- [laughter] I don't know.
But I'm talking about one of our stated core values, and if we're
to live into that, if we are to do our work for the next round,
as every generation has its opportunity to do, right --
the generations -- the shoulders that we all stand
on had the opportunities to move us along,
to help to create a space where the room could be more diverse.
And our work is now to help us get to a space
where we can be more inclusive, but we must own this dynamic.
Is that making sense to you?
I must look at when I'm a member of this group,
and when I'm a member of this group, and what am I doing
as we move the work forward?
Lastly, when most folks think about diversity and inclusion,
what's the first thing they think we're going to talk about?
>> Race.
>> And when we're talking about race, who we talking about?
>> Black.
>> Yeah, black and white people.
So [inaudible] maybe we'll find some time
to discuss, maybe we won't.
Even out here in California,
it's still a very real thing, all right?
So why -- how many of you agree that diversity's about more
than race, and race is about more than black and white?
>> Yes.
>> We all know that.
Why does our minds go there?
I want to offer -- our minds go there because of our context.
And so I want to leave you
with understanding context before content.
Context that we operate in is the context of the U.S.,
and the U.S. has a particular race history.
Would you agree?
>> Yes.
>> And that race history has erased Native American,
First Nations, and indigenous people.
That race history has created a narrative that pits black
and brown folks against one another.
That race history has created a narrative that has had Apita
and Dessi [assumed spelling] folks positioned
as the model minority, so that they don't get seen
in the race conversation.
That race narrative has created a model racial discussion,
so that folks who can't figure
out what you quite are get asked, "What are you?"
That race narrative has us not engage whiteness as a thing,
or the recognition that anti-blackness exists across all
of it, including in the black community.
And so, folks, if we are going to do this work,
what we must do is race.
You can't do social justice, diversity, and inclusion
for the next round if you won't do race.
Now, before I sit down, repeat after me.
Jamie did not say --
>> Jamie did not say --
>> -- race was more important --
>> -- race was more important --
>> -- than other identities.
>> -- than other identities.
>> One more time.
Jamie did not say --
>> Jamie did not say --
>> -- race was more important --
>> -- race was more important --
>> -- than other identities.
>> -- than other identities.
>> Don't lie on me.
Don't' say that I said that, because I did --
repeating that -- don't lie.
Because what happens is, when I show up in a room
in this package -- you see the package, right [laughter]?
What people hear is that I said race was more important.
That's not what I said.
I said "given our context, we must be willing to do race."
We must be willing to acknowledge how our siblings
who were born in other shores, and who have immigrated,
or who have come to the U.S. --
how they get raced when they get here, and how race shows
up for them, even though they don't have the same race
narrative in their bodies, all right?
So we must deal with the complicated history of race
in the context of the U.S. In doing that, I challenge you
as you leave the room -- Jamie said we've got to do race.
All right.
People have said to me, "I agree with you.
I'm going to do race."
[Laughter] And so, my challenge to you is,
what would you be doing tomorrow if you were doing race?
What does that practice look like?
So with your high-five buddies, with your colleagues around,
I invite you to the question.
Are you doing race?
And what does that mean you're doing?
I don't want to leave you without understanding
that everything you must do around race,
you must do around gender.
You must do around class.
You must do around ability.
You must do around sexual orientation --
and the intersections of all of those identities.
When I was an undergrad at Slippery Rock State College,
I was committed to ending racism.
I was going to end it before I left [laughter].
Well, good work on that [laughter].
I left Slippery Rock, and then I went to Indiana,
and I discovered sexism.
Who knew? So I was going to end sexism,
and I'm still working on that one as well.
I say that to say, folks, that as you leave this place,
I didn't share this for you to be overwhelmed.
I shared it for you to get clear about there's work to do,
and what's our part in it, and to realize
that ours may not be the fix-it.
Ours is simply to leave it better than you found it.
I believe you can.
I hope you will.
Thanks so much.
[ Applause ]
>> Okay, before you leave, before you leave --
Jamie, one second, hold one second.
Before you leave, I'd like to share a thought,
but I want to make sure that we can end the program
appropriately, and not have y'all just walking out.
We got to finish this thing up.
How many of us are different as a result of Dr. Washington --
[ Applause ]
-- he gave us some challenges, and the fact that --
I will tell you, I have high-five buddies all
over the country, literally.
Over the number of years that I've watched my friend,
I will be in the airport.
I'm walking along, and there's a guy who's running
down the -- high-fives me.
It happens in the supermarket, in different states.
I even have one in Shanghai, China when I was
at that university, and I had a high-five buddy.
So it works as a reminder that we must do
that with each other on this campus.
The idea of saying that you're at Sonoma State --
I've only been here since April, but I knew when I walked
on this campus there was a different feel.
I didn't always feel at home,
and I came in as a vice president.
I've lived in Petaluma.
I know what my neighbors look like,
and I know what I look like.
It's obvious when I'm walking to Starbucks.
It's like, whoa, there's one [laughter].
So I know what it feels like to be different in my community,
but what we have done today is
to make sure something's very positive, and that is to talk
about those things which are uncomfortable.
Because if we just do the assumption of doing it,
and getting by just to get by, or getting along,
just so I don't raise any stuff that's -- oh, Lord, have mercy.
Because I know I'm living in the '80s,
and I just want us to all be kumbaya.
And since we talked about race here, we're going to have
to start talking about those -- that we go home and watch.
So today, what I say to all of you --
so we send out Dr. Washington the right way, I'd like for all
of us to extend our own high-five to our new partner.
>> Thank you.
Thank you so much.
[ Applause ]
Work with our students, work with our faculty,
work with our staff, and make Sonoma the most promising place
to work for in the country.
Thank you.
[ Music ]
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