Jamya is a senior at Indian Land High working as a publicity intern with The Literary Lobbyist. She is considering majoring in mass communications or journalism with a double minor in public relations and entrepreneurship. Jamya plans to attend an HBCU.
In different areas of our society, such as workplaces and educational and religious institutions, we require an environment that encourages and supports Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These books aim to influence, heal, and usher readers toward a more inclusive human existence. These collections of important examinations and action steps are ideal for the beginner in your DEI journey who appreciates data and first-person narratives or someone seeking to expand your knowledge from a holistic or spiritual vantage point.
1. Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change by Bethany B. Wilkinson: Fearless guide about taking clear and intentional actions throughout your organization so that people of all racial backgrounds are empowered to lead, collaborate, and excel at work. Combining real-world research with honest first-person experiences, racial justice facilitator Bethaney Wilkinson provides leaders with a replicable structure to foster a diverse culture of belonging within an organization. The Diversity Gap shifts companies from well-intentioned organizational diversity programs that do little to move the needle and a lasting culture of equity and belonging that can transform your organization and outpace your industry.
2. Do Better: Spiritual Activism For Fighting and Healing White Supremacy by Rachel Ricketts: As a global thought leader, racial justice educator, healer, speaker, and writer, Rachel Ricketts hosts intersectional racial justice workshops worldwide, including her renowned Spiritual Activism series. In this book, she provides readers with a real, raw, and relevant examination of how to engage in the heart-centered and mindfulness-based practices that will help us all fight white supremacy from the inside out in our personal lives and communities alike. Through guided meditation and breathwork; this healer offers soul care.
3. Heal Your Way Forward: The Co-Conspirator’s Guide to an Anti-Racist Future by Myisha T. Hill: Myshia T. Hill’s groundbreaking work on antiracism focuses on promoting the mindset of human liberation and the great awakening for intergenerational healing through activism. With Heal Your Way Forward, Hill shows her commitment to creating real change and restoration for the future and believes that silence is not the answer.
4. Racial Justice at Work: Practical Solutions for Systematic Change by Mary-Frances Winters: Justice is a newer concept in the corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion space, and there is a lack of understanding about what it means and how to actualize it. There is a great deal of effort put into hiring BIPOC and other programmatic activities such as employee resource groups and mentoring programs, but not enough emphasis on the organizational systems perpetuating inequalities. Mary-Frances Winters and The Winters Group team focus on correcting harmful systems. The narrative reimagines policies, practices, procedures, and ways of working and being that foster fairness, equity, and opportunity for all.
5. The Inclusive Organization: Real Solutions, Impactful Change, and Meaningful Diversity by Netta Jenkins: The Inclusive Organization is a guide to help companies create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. It focuses on practical strategies for implementing change rather than just the theory behind it. Many people may not know how to make their workplace more inclusive, but Netta provides worksheets, examples, and toolkits to help them make a lasting commitment to diversity and inclusion.
6. Living Undivided by Chuck Mingo, Troy Jackson, and Holly Crawshaw: Both church and state are guilty of sidestepping the issue of racism. We have prioritized maintaining order over justice. Through enlightening history and eye-opening personal stories, Living Undivided will equip and empower you with the biblical, transformative tools you need to move from just hoping and wishing for racial justice to actionable change that makes a difference in your life and the lives of churches, neighborhoods, and cities.
7. Impactful Inclusion Toolkit, 52 Activities to Help You Learn and Practice Inclusion Everyday in the Workplace by Yvette Steele: This collection of 52 activities will help you learn and practice inclusion every day in the workplace. Steele’s useful and actionable toolkit is for individuals who aim to promote inclusivity. Team members and knowledge workers can take the initiative to drive change by leveraging the weekly activities and resources provided. In addition, DEI and HR professionals, business founders, owners, managers, and other leaders can use this tool to better support their employees on their inclusion journey.
8.Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work by Tina Opie and Beth Livingston: The co-authors’ unique story begins with an awkward introduction at a conference, leading them to unpack and bridge their cultural differences and write a book together. Since then the two have worked to spread the word to leaders that gender equity can’t happen without racial equity. A moving and empowering book that joins all women of every shade, background, and ethnicity to experience the bond of professional growth and equity. Diving into unspoken assumptions, connecting bridges through genuine relationships, and advancing women in all areas. The authors see a path forward and understand that gender equity is inseparable from racial equity.
9. Decolonizing Therapy: Oppression, Historical Trauma, and Politicizing Your Practice by Jennifer Mullan, PsyD.: Dr. Jennifer Mullan, a clinical psychologist and activist-scholar, makes a compelling case for all therapists and students to re-examine their training, delivery of services, and approach to client work and question the relatability of the mental health industrial complex to the People they serve. Analyzing such topics as intergenerational trauma, white supremacy, poverty and race, and the role of politics in psychotherapy, the author takes an unwavering stance: no therapy can operate outside of the political. The idea that “external” factors such as systemic racism and cultural trauma have nothing to do with individual psychotherapeutic sessions can no longer be accepted.
10. Breathe Black People: A Mindfulness Guide to Racial Healing by Zee C: Heal from racial trauma using vital tools from an expert in mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork. Whether you are coping with police brutality, racial profiling, microaggressions, or even imposter syndrome, Black People Breathe gives you the tools to process these complex feelings physically, mentally, and emotionally. Studies show that mindfulness, meditation, and breathwork can significantly reduce the devastating—effects of racism on one’s emotional, physical, and mental health. Clarke created this thoughtful, inclusive, and vividly illustrated guide to facilitate healing for communities of color and offer allies insight into the discrimination and inequity that these communities face, creating a space for deeper empathy and the inspiration to drive change.
