What If?

 Our regional PTA offered a book study on the text What If? Short Stories to Spark Inclusion & Diversity Dialogue by Steve L. Robbins. I participated in all the sessions which were attended by a diverse mix of people and experienced many new insights. As a result of participating, I bought the book and read the entire thing- during the book club we focused on eight of the 36 chapters. 

First a note on the organization of the book. Paul Smith, Lead with a Story author, would be proud. Each chapter starts with a story that is not about diversity and inclusion but highlights a feature of how to look at the subject. After the vignette Robbins goes into a short tie to the issue being focused on from a diversity and inclusion lens. Finally, each chapter ends with five action steps: first glance, looking inward, what if, activity and this week's assignment. Each chapter is quite short, about five easy to read pages. 

I love this approach because it starts with a neutral experience that is likely common to many. For people hesitant to discuss or acknowledge issues around diversity and inclusion, this is low stakes and builds a common starting point. Then it progresses to how that story showcases some aspect of diversity and inclusion. It provides an easy point of entry for discussion. For example the chapter Equal is Not Always Fair talks about restrooms. If there are three urinals and two stalls in the men's bathroom and five stalls in the women's bathroom it is equal and fair- right? Why then is there a line at the women's room? Because women take, on average, one and a half to two times as long to use the facility. A surface level equality is not always fair. Telling this story can lead to discussions about other situations where equal is not fair and what can be done about it. The book recognizes that change takes time and practice when it goes into its action plan. The action plan for this chapter includes, "Practice fair treatment by considering the many ways people may be different or may be dealing with different circumstances" (p. 29).

This is a great read to start discussions that make people reexamine their lives and organizations to think about how are people treated differently, especially people who are not part of the majority. From a book study perspective, picking a chapter or two at a time and not worrying about covering the entire book makes sense. Hopefully people who participate in such dialogues will be inspired to pick up