1.
Cori Wong entered a very important and popular topic in her article “Changing organizational culture: from embedded bias to equity and inclusion”. As we are learning in our studies of the book “They say I say”, it is important for an author to enter a conversation and to add something new to it as opposed to simply restating facts and ideas authors have come up with. She did just that in a very enlightening way when she used a metaphor for describing the difference between equality and equity. Her metaphor was that if a group of people are running a long race, a decision based on equality would be to give them all the same exact shoe (size and all). This technically treats everyone the same as equality strives for. However, people have different sized feet (i.e. different needs). Therefore, some people may have an inherent advantage in running the race due to their perfect fitting shoes while others are at a disadvantage who’s feet don’t fit. Equity on the other hand would be assessing individual’s needs and getting them a shoe that fits well to give them equal opportunity to succeed in the race. I believe this metaphor was an excellent contribution to the conversation of diversity and inclusion. This was significant to me because it really helped me visualize and understand the difference between equity and equality. It is very important to be able to distinguish the difference because the language that we use is powerful and can dramatically impact how our society functions.
2.
After reading chapter 8 of “They say, I say” and reading Cori Wong’s article, I noticed multiple location where she used important moves to “connect the parts” of her sentences and paragraphs. In doing so, Cori was able to create an article that reads very easily and flows nicely. Had she omitted the various transitional words/phrases her writing would be choppy and would be much more challenging to understand. The following paragraph found on page two of the article states
“[While diversity often refers to representation of difference, inclusion refers to how differences are meaningfully incorporated and integrated into daily practices. As such, a better way to frame the commitment to be more equitable and inclusive would start by asking, “Who is not represented at the proverbial table? In what ways have we kept some people out?”]”
After her first sentence explaining the definition of diversity and inclusion, Cori begins the sentence with “As such”. This technique refers back to her previous sentence and indicates to the reader that she is going to add something related but new to her argument. She does this by staying on topic but including the addition of an example to help the reader digest the new ideas she is describing.