Table of Contents

Editor's Note

Cover Story

Taste Buds

Events Calendar

March 2008

© Copyright ColorsNW Magazine

- Community Conversations
- Doing it Justice
- iSalud! [To your health]
- News Briefs
- Diversity Matters
- Reading Room

COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS

We are pleased to introduce our first “Community Conversations” column, which will feature a Q & A format posed to people in our communities who are working to promote diversity and equity. This month’s conversation is with Mack L. Hogans, a former senior executive with a Fortune 500 company headquartered in the Northwest. He now devotes much of his time helping Northwest area companies in their work to diversify their employment and leadership ranks through the BOLD (Business Opportunities for Leadership Diversity) Initiative, a Puget Sound area CEO-led venture. Hogans is also a board member for numerous companies and volunteer organizations.

When you think of “diversity,” what does that bring to mind and how does it relate to the work that is important to you?
To me, diversity is simply the science and art of engaging and capturing human potential in the workplace and in society. The workplace has been a difficult area for employers to capture the full human potential of diversity elements such as race, ethnicity, gender and so on. The science around diversity is the what: what are the bottom line benefits of diversity in the workplace? I believe everything else that improves the bottom line is the art: how do we find talented people; attract and nurture the talent; get the full potential from these talented people and develop and advance them to the leadership ranks? When it comes to diversity in the workplace we need to do better at the science and especially the art.

What are your thoughts on the progress, or lack of progress, related to diversity and/or cultural competencies, that has been made since you entered the business world?
I have been in the professional world for 36 years. During that time I have seen great progress in diversity in the middle management and leadership ranks of corporations and organizations. Regrettably, I also see some of the same issues as 36 years ago. Corporations and organizations continue to struggle when identifying, attracting, retaining, developing and promoting diverse people in their ranks. I see diverse people continuing to express frustration about not getting opportunities for employment, development and advancement in the workforce. I fundamentally believe that it shouldn’t be this difficult to capture the human potential of diverse populations.

What are the biggest barriers to change?
Change is difficult and is a barrier unto itself when it comes to diversity. A local CEO once said it best, when he suggested that if diversity isn’t in the DNA of the leader and manager, diversity had better be in the DNA of their business practices and processes. In many cases, to be successful in diversity in the fast paced world of business requires lots of new thinking around culture, behaving differently, courageous decision making, hard work and time. It has been done in almost every other aspect of business. It can be done with diversity too.

What holds the greatest promise to bring about greater inclusion and equity in our business communities?
I believe an initiative like BOLD holds great promise for the benefits of diversity in the Puget Sound business community. The combination of business leaders collaborating among themselves about diversity and inviting the community, institutions and organizations to help them be successful with diversity is powerful. This very model is in itself diverse and is about change. It is time to shine a positive light on diversity in this community and declare that we are all responsible for its success. It will still require hard work and time, but the benefits will be worth it.
What words of advice or encouragement would you give to emerging leaders?
Work hard and deliver results, operate with the highest level of professionalism and integrity, find a quality mentor, listen to them and act swiftly on their advice, communicate your career expectations clearly to your leaders, be a mentor to a talented person from a diverse background, and don’t be afraid to challenge and expose yourself to new and uncomfortable situations.
 
What message would you send to other business leaders?
Be courageous when it comes to diversity. Make change happen and take the time to do it. When I was in senior leadership I could have done better when it came to diversity. Too often I believed I didn’t have the time to give it the attention it deserved. I regret that I let myself accept that belief.

Anything else you’d like to share?
In the workplace, successful diversity outcomes are a two-way street between employers and individuals from diverse backgrounds. Individuals who don’t understand their role in this relationship will fail. Employers who don’t understand their role will also fail. It is way past the time for all parties to step up to the plate and address this opportunity. I am optimistic that business leaders and this community will make significant progress. Puget Sound employees can be a national model for successful diversity and the benefits it produces.
 Nani JACKINS PARK
 

Emergency Feeding Program
Delivering culturally sensitive food to those in need

Arthur Lee is the kind of person who’s quick to deflect the gratitude bestowed upon him for his work with Seattle-based Emergency Feeding Program (EFP), where he is the executive director. He is very polite about it, though. Eagerly, he points out that he is the one who has been blessed with a great board of directors, a great staff and compassionate volunteers.

Founded in 1977 by Black United Clergy for Action and the Church Council of Greater Seattle, the EFP differentiates itself from other food services because its focus goes beyond feeding the hungry. The EFP works with nutritionists to provide nourishing, culturally appropriate, and balanced food for people in crisis hunger situations throughout Seattle and King County. The EFP also offer food packs for those with special dietary needs. There are no-cook, no-refrigeration foods for the homeless, snack packs for homeless teens, culturally sensitive Asian or Latino food boxes, infant bags, among others.

The program also believes that alleviating hunger is only treating the symptom of a larger problem. The second step involves providing resource counseling to help get individuals and families back on their feet towards independence.

“Hunger is debilitating and demoralizing,” Lee says. “It robs a person of hope, making the dream of a better tomorrow seem like just another empty promise. Lack of proper nutrition means not having the energy needed to do everyday tasks.”
The EFP works in collaboration with social-service agencies and faith communities – places where knowledgeable staff can identify and help with the underlying causes of the current food crisis – whether it is financial problems, substance-abuse issues and domestic-violence or mental-health troubles.

“While EFP food bags provide immediate hunger relief,” Lee states, “by educating clients and helping them address the underlying problems that precipitated their hunger crises, EFP also helps provide real hope for that promised better tomorrow.”  Stacy NGUYEN

2615 South Jackson St. - Seattle, WA 98144
www.emergencyfeeding.org
 

Dimensions of Diversity
The University of Washington School of Medicine goes deep

Nearly a year ago, Seattle filmmaker Shaun Scott was commissioned, under the direction of Dr. Byron Joyner, to create a documentary film about race, class and gender at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. On Feb. 13, “Dimensions of Diversity: The University of Washington School of Medicine” made its debut on the UW campus.

“Dimensions” addresses diversity from the perspective of the public healthcare professional and examines public healthcare from the perspective of a wide pool of diverse patients. Scott and Joyner, an associate professor at the UW School of Medicine, interviewed people at the school about their own strategies to make the medical profession more mindful about the historical, social and cultural forces that prey on patients. The discussions ranged from the merits of naturopathic medicine to black masculinity and rectal exams; from the perils of implementing diversity measures in a largely conservative and segregated field to the deconstruction of the very meaning of “diversity” in an institutional setting.

The documentary had a definite objective, but “the beauty – yet the inherent instability of the project – is that you never knew how people would respond,” Scott says. “Getting a white, male doctor to talk about how he saw black masculinity on camera was very powerful.”

Scott, an African American, experienced a personal revelation from completing the project. “Plainly – you need to take care of your health. Blackness and early death are often synonymous because black males are not watching over themselves and their well-being as well as they could.”

Copies of the film are not yet available to the public; however, this documentary is a prequel for a larger project that will begin production in May. For more information, contact Scott at giantsteps65@gmail.com.  Carolyn J. WRIGHT
 

News Briefs

Highline School District Launches Hispanic Literacy Program
With the help of a unique partnership with Toyota and the National Center for Family Literacy, the Highline School District recently announced the launch of a program to boost the literacy skills of Hispanic and immigrant children and families. The Toyota Family Literacy Program brings parents and students together in the same classroom for a dual-purpose learning environment. First, the program strengthens the parent-child relationship, and second, it focuses on the needs of communities with low English-literacy skills. Schools in the Burien and Seattle area (the program is in place at White Center Heights Elementary, Beverly Park Elementary and Mount View Elementary schools) are one of five districts nationwide to receive funding for the expansion of the program, made possible through a $3 million grant from Toyota.

City University of Seattle Creates International Division
To broaden its reach into the international realm, City University of Seattle announced the formation of an International Division, led by Dr. Fernando Leon Garcia, vice president of academic affairs. In his new capacity as chancellor of the International Division, Leon Garcia will lead the development and growth of its international partnerships and global network. Leon Garcia’s work with global diversity stems from personal experience: His father immigrated to North America from China in the 1940s, where he raised his family in Mexicali, Mexico. Leon Garcia came to the United States to pursue a doctoral degree at Stanford University.

BCC Faces Complaints of Racial Discrimination
At least six prominent women of color faculty have lodged discrimination complaints against Bellevue Community College, saying that they have endured hostile emails, pay inequities, racist remarks and a lack of equal-opportunity advancement and professional development. To add to the issue, at least seven African-American female employees left the college in the first six months of 2007. While the college administration says it has changed policies, the faculty members are asking for a legal order to hold the college accountable for retaining employees and students of color and ensure a harassment-free college environment. For more on this situation, email bccwomenofcolordefense@gmail.com.
 
New President Named to IAWW
On the 25th anniversary of the India Association of Western Washington (IAWW), the executive board named Murthy “MK” Kalkura to the presidency of the association for 2008. MK has served as director of Camp Bharat, the largest ethnic camp in the United States. Each year, the camp helps nearly 150 youth reconnect to their South Asian roots and develop sustaining relationships with peers in their ethnic community.

UW Bothell Announces Graduate Degree in Cultural Studies
The Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Program at the University of Washington in Bothell will launch a new program, beginning fall 2008: Master of Arts in Cultural Studies (MACS). This is the first graduate program in the Pacific Northwest to partner interdisciplinary study of art and culture through a community-based learning network. With its blend of inquiry and practice, the program aims to prepare students for careers in social, cultural and arts organizations.  Meg KRUGEL
 

DIVERSITY MATTERS
by Nani JACKINS PARK

THERE’S A PARTICULAR COMPLIMENT I’ve received many times in my life that usually elicits a polite grimace from me, which is generally not what the compliment giver expects.

What’s the compliment? It’s expressed in a variety of forms, but the underlying gist is: “You speak English so well, and without an accent!”

Like many issues related to diversity and the work of people trying to relate to others across cultural differences, what may be presented as a well-intentioned, simple sentiment is connected to some pretty complex and racialized dynamics.

What does speaking English “well” mean? What is it about our communities’ expectations that make us praise people for their ability to strip away the influences of the other languages they speak? And why do we find some people’s accents desirable, while we form negative judgments about others who haven’t shed theirs?

The answers are related to power and privilege dynamics; how we collectively define what it means to be “us;” and how we identify the characteristics that define “them.” Also related is the existence of the “perpetual foreigner” category to which Asian Americans are often relegated. It’s more common than one might imagine for folks whose families have been U.S. citizens for generations to be applauded for their English skills. This communicates an assumption that, generally, Asian Americans are recent immigrants who have newly acquired the language, calling into question the rights associated with being full-fledged “Americans.”

So, how do I respond to what I hope are well-meaning people who congratulate me in this way? On my best days, I acknowledge the hopeful intention of what they are saying and push back a bit by asking what they mean and engaging in discussion. On my best days, I work to avoid creating an environment of “political correctness” where the fear of saying the “wrong” thing stops us from reaching out to each other and trying to form relationships at all.

And on my best days, I remind myself that this work of really understanding diversity matters and the tension we experience when cultural dynamics collide is messy and necessary – and worth it.
 
Nani Jackins Park is the executive director of ColorsNW Diversity Training & Consulting Services, and has over 20 years of experience promoting diversity and equity issues. To reach Nani, email nanijp@colorsnw.com.

"Ike's Principles"
Beloved Japanese-American community activist shares a bit of wisdom

AS READERS CRACK YET ONE MORE BOOK ON how to de-clutter for a clearer mind, we must wonder: Whose words are we reading, and why? Does an author from a far-off publishing house offer more insight into our life patterns than a friend, close spiritual mentor or a local community resource?

Seattle-area readers have been given a small gem of a “self help” book, carefully deliberated and compiled by 80-year-old community activist and Beacon Hill resident Tsuguo “Ike” Ikeda. “Ike’s Principles,” self-published by Ikeda and friend Dee Goto, combines 11 daily meditations from Ikeda’s Japanese-American heritage. The book’s easy-to-follow cultural principles guided Ikeda through his experience in the internment camps of 1942, his work with the Black Panther Party and his executive directorship of Seattle social-service agency Atlantic Street Center between 1953 and 1986.

“Ike’s Principles” gives thoughtful instruction on how to best incorporate 11 lessons (which include Bonsai, Gambaru, Ikebana, Judo, Ukemi, Bamboo, Seito/Sensei, Daruma, Tofu, Mizu and Karate) into daily living. In the book, Ikeda explains the principle (take the “Bamboo” principle, for example, which means to “bend without breaking”), gives an example from his own social-work experience to show how he has incorporated the lesson and ends with three steps to help visualize the principle in our own lives.

For local readers, the book will inspire a sense of community building. It would be rare to read through “Ike’s Principles” without finding one personal link to Ikeda’s past. And for readers from afar, the book’s principles are evidently well lived and well received. As far as “self help” is concerned, in the words of Ikeda, read this book and “gambatte!”  Meg KRUGEL

$11. To purchase the book, contact 206.721.0303. All proceeds from the book’s sale will benefit Atlantic Street Center and the Japanese Cultural Center in Seattle.