Johnetta B. Cole. Tim Wise. NCORE.

On a quick break from conference duties. Stuffing my face with some Harold's Fried Chicken -- wings -- and digesting some of the deep DEEP things we've been discussing at NCORE this week. My presentation, by the way, went really well.

But yesterday had the opportunity to hear Dr. Johnetta B. Cole, president of Bennett College for Women in North Carolina, and former president of Spelman College in Atlanta. She's great. Smart. Motivating. Sharing some of her wisdom on being an effective leader in whatever you do. A few of the 12 points she shared:

1) Surround yourself with folks good as or better than you could be;
2) Have passion in your work, but know when it's time to move on -- in other words, you've got to leave when people want you to stay;
3) Integrity at all times;
4) You must engage in the discussion about diversity and inclusion. Of course there's more contextual stuff, but I have a session to make in a few minutes.

Today. Tim Wise. If you don't know, Tim Wise speaks out and challenges white people to take responsibility for the systemic role they play in perpetuating white privilege and racism. Today, he spoke the gospel on the Hurricane Katrina situation, and four points he'll be making in his upcoming book on the disaster are:
1) White America is incapable of seeing black/brown realities and are in a perpetual state of denial;
2) New Orleans was not a systematic failure-- the system did what it intended to do;
3) White corporate media is incapable of and incompetent when presenting issues of race and class in the U.S.;
4) Our commitment to charity (i.e. giving after a disaster) is inversely proportional to our commitment to proactive measures to prevent social crises.

More context, but gotta run. Thoughts?
NCORE 2007 will take place in San Francisco.
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