By: Lucy Zhou
One of our main goals for this project is to increase people’s exposure to open conversations about inclusivity and to raise awareness of best practices that can be adopted for businesses and entrepreneurs. We wanted to achieve this goal through a workshop designed to get people from all different backgrounds with differing opinions to interact with each other and learn more about inclusivity from local entrepreneurs. For the first workshop, we thought it was easiest and most reasonable to start with just students from the other Mountaintop projects. We eventually want to do another workshop within the community to get more people involved who are actual residents.
To begin, we got all of the attendees involved with a game of Kahoot. We selected the survey option just to gauge current perceptions of inclusivity and our project. Based on our own research and findings through interviewing entrepreneurs, we compared what people selected as answers to our conclusions. This helped us and others gain a better understanding of the inclusivity in South Bethlehem specifically and how the term “inclusivity” is defined. We then opened up the discussion with our panelists by having each person introduce herself and provide own experiences that are related to inclusivity, which included struggles they had to overcome and what led them to do the work they do. We also facilitated the conversation by posing two main questions about what the best practices are for businesses and entrepreneurs to increase inclusivity and how to break down those barriers that exist because of people’s preconceptions and ignorance. Questions from the audience were encouraged, and many people had a lot to ask based on their own personal experiences.
Through our connection with Veronica Moore, we were able to have three other guest speakers (including Moore) to attend our workshop and be a part of a panel. Rosalind Lucien, who is Jamaican, started her own business to help students prep for college and standardized tests like the SATs. Lucien said she has experienced and witnessed racism and discrimination throughout her life, and she said slavery still exists today but in a different form. She wants to educate young people of color and other underrepresented groups to help them succeed and use education to combat discrimination. Heather Harlen is an author and middle school teacher in Allentown. She said she tries to foster an inclusive environment at school, but discrimination still exists between the superiors and students and even other teachers. Pam Bartlett runs her own in-home care for the elderly, especially those with diseases or disabilities. She said racism and discrimination exists when patients refuse to be treated by a male or by a person of color. Bartlett had to turn clients away because she didn’t condone discrimination and could not ethically provide care for someone who was racist and hostile toward her employees.
Discrimination and racism still exist today and drive exclusion in businesses as well as in society. It is important for everyone to have allies for support and companionship, especially people who feel excluded or marginalized. Though it will take decades to fix this issue or even to ameliorate it, all of the panelists agreed that it starts with systemic changes throughout the generations. They also stressed it only takes one person to speak up to instigate a change or movement. We need to embrace others and have those conversations that are open and respectful. We need to be uncomfortable. Without recognizing the discrimination, stepping in to speak up when there’s something wrong and consciously working to combat segregation, change and growth toward inclusivity will not occur. Whether it’s through proper training and education for employees and employers or implementing lessons of inclusivity in children or communicating with people right vs wrong or giving equal powers to majority and underrepresented to move away from a hierarchy, it is a collective and collaborative effort by everyone.