Our American Discourse, Ep. 29: Speaking Your Truth -- How It’s Possible to Talk About and Improve Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion sound like universally accepted ideas, but when we try to talk about how we fall short of them and how we can improve, they become two of the most controversial political sparks in the fire that rages around our American discourse. Many people believe they can’t speak the truth in their hearts, and so they see no path forward. At the USC Price School, we have been challenging this assumption and lifting up these voices to unfurl a path that had been blocked until only recently.In this episode, LaVonna B. Lewis tells the story of this new effort, known as the Initiative on Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice, and she implores us to follow the Price School’s lead in our everyday lives.Prof. Lewis is a teaching professor in the Sol Price of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, where she currently serves as Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives. You can read more about these initiatives on the “Moving Forward” website at pricediversity.usc.edu.To listen to this episode of Our American Discourse, click the orange arrow in the Soundcloud player at the top of this post. Or you can download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, Google Play, or Stitcher.=========="Our American Discourse" is produced by Aubrey Hicks, Jonathan Schwartz, and myself, and mixed by Corey and Ryan Hedden.