Racism and conventional diversity workshops, are they the solution? Educator, activist and sociologist Sarita Srivastava, Ph.D challenges conventional ways of dealing with racism. Sarita’s debut book “Are You Calling Me A Racist?”: Why We Need to Stop Talking About Race and Start Making Antiracist Change reveals why these efforts have failed to effectively challenge racism.
This week an in-depth conversation with Sarita analyzing the emotional and historical roadblocks that anti-racist efforts have faced. Instead of ‘Feel-Good racial politics’, we need to make concrete, collective changes to our practices and spaces. And answer the question: Why does antiracism flounder where it seems it should be most likely to succeed? Is there something in the way that we are doing things that we could change that would have prevented this thing that we’re addressing from happening in the first place?
Dr. Sarita Srivastava, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science at OCAD University, Canada. She is a sociologist and former environmental campaign director. Her research focuses on race and social movements and the shortcomings of equity and diversity efforts in organizations.