As we recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Evolytics/Concord team prepares to begin discussing a new book in our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Book Club about communicating across racial and ethnic divides and pursuing antiracism. Celebrating Dr. King’s legacy of fighting for racial equality is at the core of our DEI initiative.

Starting next week, the Concord DEI Book Club (Evolytics is a Concord company) will start 11-weeks of discussions on “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” by Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD. In her book, Dr. Tatum, an authority on the psychology of racism, develops a framework for transcending society’s reluctance to discuss racial issues.

The Concord DEI Book Club’s overarching goal for reading this particular book is to help Concord employees better understand why the Black community feels ostracized and targeted in modern society. The intended outcome is to lift the veil of ignorance from the average person to facilitate nuanced, thoughtful discussions with others and recognize how we can all make a difference in breaking down barriers to achieve racial equality.

The DEI Book Club is one way that Concord is trying to promote and continue Dr. King’s work unifying the Black and White communities by providing opportunities to address where white privilege exists and how it differs from the Black experience. Through literature and discourse, our book club emulates some of the preferred dissemination methods Dr. King used to raise awareness and help everyone along.

Dr. Tatum’s New York Times-bestselling book is a renowned modern classic about the psychology of racism, providing guidance on how to talk about race in America. Stay tuned for revelations uncovered during our team’s weekly group discussions of “Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?”