Tag: Bias

Latest Read: Race for Profit

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date June 23, 2022

Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. Dr. Taylor is a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Her 2013 PhD dissertation in African-American Studies from Northwestern is titled Race for Profit: Black Housing and the Urban Crisis in the 1970s which moreover serves as the core of this book.

As a result of reading Evicted by Matthew Desmond, Keeanga’s book offers very powerful insights to housing in society from the Housing and Urban Development Act (HUD) of 1968 under the Johnson Administration to the 1974 Ford Administration Housing and Community Development Act which created uneven block grants and shared revenue with federal oversight to social welfare.

However, in contrast to Evicted, Race for Profit reveals deep, historical racism within the housing market that continues today and certainly accelerated under COVID. These forces obviously created downstream impacts at state and local levels, along with private financial firms including banks and real estate.

Keeanga in fact documents those failings were simply accelerating via “public/private partnerships” by Real Estate and Banking firms. This provided another opportunity to fleece poor African American women.

Tags Bias, change, culture, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, poverty, Race for Profit, tipping point

Education Milwaukee Reading

Latest Read: Evicted

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date June 17, 2022

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Matthew is a sociologist at Princeton University. He is also the principal investigator of the Eviction Lab.

Evicted was the 2017 winner of the Pulitzer Prize, In addition, Time Magazine named Evicted one of the ten best nonfiction books of the decade.

Matthew follows eight families across greater Milwaukee who indeed are struggling to live in apartments. For many readers, Evicted should dramatically change our country’s limited understanding of real poverty, impacting both Caucasian and African American families. One can only imagine the acceleration of evictions since COVID derailed the economy.

It is certainly remarkable to be living in Milwaukee and being able to see the apartments around the greater Milwaukee area in person on trips. Some small cities outside Milwaukee including Cudahy are also written into family stories.

Furthermore, Matthew documents that a common notion is that rent should equate to 30 percent of income. However multiple stories of families reveal they are spending up to 80 percent of income on rent. This certainly leaves so many with almost no money for food, clothing, or basic amenities.

Tags Bias, change, culture, Education, Evicted, Matthew Desmond, Milwaukee, poverty, tipping point

Education Reading

Latest Read: Unraveling Bias

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date June 14, 2022

Unraveling Bias: How Prejudice Has Shaped Children for Generations and Why It’s Time to Break the Cycle by Christia Spears, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Kentucky. In addition, her work on the impact of gender stereotypes on children and adolescents has been published widely including a blogging post for Psychology Today called Beyond Pink and Blue.

Christia provides insights to the ‘how and why’ biases are developed and specifically at what age levels deeper, rigid perceptions are established. Of course, it is important to understand how this exposure to bias will impact diversity.

One of the impactful areas for childhood development involves how children internalize non-verbal cues. At this junction, the non-verbal cues will reveal bias even when a conversation regarding a type of bias is not communicated.

In addition, these children ultimately see adults around them (family, a parent’s co-worker, or adult social relationships) and learn how to react.

In addition, perhaps to no surprise, Unraveling Bias reveals how children impacted by bias, specially discrimination will score lower on tests and have higher dropout rates.

Students also battle depression, low self esteem, higher drug use, and even higher thoughts of suicide. This will certainly increase additional health issues as they grow up.

Tags Bias, Christia Spears Brown, Unraveling Bias

Education Reading

Latest Read: Sway

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date May 2, 2022

Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias by Pragya Agarwal. Pragya is a behavior and data scientist and currently a visiting professor of Social Inequities and Injustice at Loughborough University. Pragya holds a PhD from the University of Nottingham.

She has been a visiting professor at University College London (UK), University of Melbourne, University of Temuco (Chile), University of California Santa Barbara, and Johns Hopkins University. She is the founder of a research think-tank The 50 Percent Project investigating women’s status and rights around the world. Pragya has launched podcasts Wish We Knew What to Say and Outside The Boxes on PodBean. In addition, Pragya has just published Wish We Knew What to Say (April ’22) and previously published (M)otherhood, the choices of being a woman.

Sway is providing an in-depth look at the very difficult topic of unconscious bias. Pragya is attempting to document not only how we identify unconscious bias, but how one may begin to unravel this specifically across our society.

What should immediately confront all readers is this is similar to slaying a three-headed (neuro, cognitive and behavioral) science dragon. In reading this book I found that multiple touch points certainly align along Daniel Kahneman’s excellent work in Thinking, Fast and Slow. Actually, this also compliments Bias Interrupted by Joan C. Williams and Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez.

Waterstones | Sway by Pragya Agarwal

Tags Bias, Pragya Agarwal, sway, Unconscious Bias

Education Reading TED

Latest Read: Bias Interrupted

Post author By Don Kasprzak
Post date April 16, 2022

Bias Interrupted: Creating Inclusion for Real and For Good by Joan C. Williams. Joan is professor and director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California College of Law. This book is addressing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within large organizations. Previously Joan wrote What Works for Women at Work.

So, when does $8 million not move the needle? When companies use the wrong tools to solve a business problem. This is the outline of Bias Interrupted. Joan’s message that organizations have been using the wrong tool trying to address DEI.

In addition, Joan delivers a solid breakdown via evidence-based data (over twenty years) to the origins of organizational bias. This includes both descriptions and examples of common biases along with actionable outcomes to change culture.

Joan is certainly focusing this book on large organizations. In addition, it would be fair to say the book is for supervisors, managers and senior leadership.

I felt this book is indeed a great read. Some may consider this to be short and more of an overview. However, there are practical solutions included. This may be best for busy leaders today.

On the surface too many organizations may believe their cultural bias cannot change. Worse, they are also terribly mis informed that a half day workshop is the instant cure-all. However, Joan provides an educational overview to organizational leaders to indeed discover how their tuned efforts can establish a better workplace.

Tags Bias, Bias Interrupted, Joan C. Williams, Organizational Bias