“My white friend game is strong.” That comment landed on my Facebook page after I created a post that said: “I need to hear from my white friends!...
Risha Talks: ‘Us vs. them’ dynamic holds back diversity, inclusion, though we share the same fears
I have trained a few thousand people throughout the United States, South America and the United Kingdom. I have had personal conversations and...
Risha Talks: The price of inclusion is cheaper than the price of exclusion
I was in Chicago recently conducting conversations regarding diversity, inclusion and bias. After my first day, I went to my hotel bar for a drink....
Risha Talks: Stop talking and start listening
“Why don’t black people care as much about black-on-black crime as they do when a police officer kills a black person?” I was asked this question by...
Risha Talks: I check all the boxes, including one I misunderstood and kept private — LGBTQ
I check all boxes. I’m African-American, I’m a woman, I’m left-handed, I’m divorced and I’m bisexual. As diversity goes, it feels like my life...
Risha Talks: Equity should be an inalienable right
Imagine living in a place where you decide to buy tomatoes from the local Subway restaurant because there is not a grocery store in your community....
Risha Talks: After a racist came to my door shouting obscenities, I reflected on my own ‘BS’
The day after my first Tulsa World column ran, a white man showed up at my house. He stood in my front yard, facing my living room window, shouting. He used the f-word and said he hated n—- — and shouted Martin Luther King’s name.
“I’m going to kill you and burn your house down!” he yelled. “I’m going to cut your head off and send it to your mama.” His voice sounded demonic. My neighbors were not exempt. With the same racially charged epithets, he accosted them, as well. “I’m going to kill you all with my bare hands one by one.”
Risha Talks: A divided America can come together, but it takes understanding and conversations
As I travel the country speaking and training regarding diversity, inclusion and bias for corporations and schools, I get firsthand knowledge of how people are trying to deal with issues of diversity in their communities and workplaces.