The Token, livre ebook

Meet the new Black friend you never had

As a Black organizer, community, business, and organization leaders often ask: "How do I get diversity in my group?" The thing is, the work is real, but it's a minefield out there. And even progressive leaders can still, perhaps unknowingly, be racist and uphold oppressive systems.

In The Token, your new token Black friend, Crystal Byrd Farmer, acts as the bridge between majority white organizations that are dedicated to social justice and "diverse" people in community they want to recruit, across identities of race, LGBTQ, education, socioeconomic status, and disability.

With a blunt style that pulls no punches, Crystal tells you how it is, calling you out on tokenism, while extending a hand to help your organization make real transformative change toward diversity and inclusion. Coverage includes:

• What marginalized people experience and what they need to feel safe and comfortable in order to succeed
• Doing "The Work" – how to have deep conversations with your membership about the reality of bias, privilege, and microaggressions
• Practical exercises and discussion questions
• How to choose appropriate meeting locations and establish ground rules, when to bring in outside help, and how to recruit support within your organization
• Strategies on how to talk to friends who are resistant to progressive ideas.

This no-nonsense, provocative, humorous, and accessible guide is for all well-meaning people leading progressive organizations who acknowledge the need for diversity but don't know where to start.

AWARDS

• SILVER | 2021 Living Now Book Awards | Social Activism / Charity

Preface

1. I'm Your New Black Friend

Preparing for Change
2. Team Members
Cocreators
Tokens
Cheerleaders
3. The Resistance
Why This? Why Now?
The Willfully Blind
My Time to Shine

Doing The Work
4. Diversity Training
5. Community Feedback
6. Identity: My Privilege Is Better Than Yours
My Identities
The Workbook: Identity and Privilege
7. Implicit Bias: Life as a Mega Stuf™ Oreo©
The Workbook: Implicit Bias
8. Microaggressions, or, It's Just a Compliment!
The Workbook: Microaggressions
9. Majority Culture: What's Yours Is Mine
The Workbook: Majority Culture
Discussion for Tokens With Leadership

Creating Culture Conscious Meetings
10. The Invitation
11. The Location
12. Introductions
13. Ground Rules
14. Conversation and Conflict
15. Saying Good-bye and Feedback
16. The Workbook: Making Community-Wide Change.

Limits to Inclusion — It's Not About You Until It Is
17. A Space for Us
18. How Not to Recruit Leaders
19. Keep On Keepin' On

Tools and Resources
Index
About the Author
About New Society Publishers