Inclusion is the word

As tomorrow's 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. draws near, race and racism continue to score high on the news radar. And in the conversations coursing through the traditional media and the blogosphere, two words are starting to bubble up that were rarely heard 40 years ago:

Inclusion. Inclusiveness.

On NPR's Talk of the Nation yesterday, a half-hour discussion centered on black liberation theology. Toward the end of the conversation, retired United Methodist bishop Forrest Stith said that while integration was a key concept of Dr. King's under which he's lived most of his life,

I tend now to move toward a different word, which is inclusiveness. Integration simply puts people in the same box together. It doesn't empower those with differences. It doesn't acquire the opportunity for many to be themselves in the fullest way possible. Inclusiveness does, however, and I think inclusiveness has to be the key because people still live in this country under oppression, in mass poverty - who happen to be black - and under great educational and family stress.

Meanwhile, at her fine EquityBlog, PolicyLink founder and CEO Angela Glover Blackwell wrote a post March 20 about how the nation now has another opportunity for conversations about racism. A day later, amid robust discussion in the comments, she added this:

As this conversation moves forward, we need to make sure that those of us doing the policy and advocacy work to build a more inclusive society tie the conversation about race to the conversation about inclusion.

That means the issue of gentrification and the displacement that’s often associated with it, can’t be dismissed simply as “market forces operating.” It must be put in the context of the historic exclusion of African-Americans and others from the mortgages, the jobs and the educational opportunities that would have enabled the current residents to make positive changes in their lives and become the higher-income residents of the neighborhood.

It means our transportation discussion can’t just be about building new highways to growing suburbs, but there has to be a recognition that there has been discrimination against the public transit investments needed in inner-city communities.

It means our concern about education must move beyond looking at the failure of busing to solve the educational problem and ask why the nation has not been able to muster the political will to make sure all schools in all locations can perform at high levels.

The conversation about race must move beyond what is in our hearts and concentrate on how we can make change through smart, inclusive public policy.

Here at Everyday Democracy, we say amen to all that.

P.S. Today is the 40th anniversary of the prophetic "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech delivered by Dr. King in support of striking Memphis sanitation workers the day before he was killed. If you haven't read it lately, you can do so here. A video of the last minute of the speech can be viewed here.

Comments

[Armando Rayo]

It is so important that we emphasis on inclusion. I think that when we talk about diversity and inclusion, we're pretty content with diversity, yet inclusion is what really matters. It matters when we elimate inequities and bring people to the table. Nice post.

Mando
http://communityengagementblog.blogspot.com

[Julie Fanselow]

What you say, Mando. Thanks for stopping by, and congrats on what looks like a new blog for Central Texas! I'll keep an eye on it.