Local author helps people embrace diversity, heal division

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As the nation continues grappling with race, equity and social injustice issues, a local author is teaching people how to fight division and come together even though they may be alone at home.

With many people still working remotely, companies may not be doing the diversity and inclusion training they would if they were in-person.

Speaker Justin Jones-Fosu wrote the book “Inclusive Mindset” to guide individuals on their own journeys.

He suggests we use this time to find books, movies and friends to help us learn about people from different cultures and backgrounds.

He takes on six-month challenges where he immerses himself in books and research to learn more about how to be a better ally. He shared about his current effort to learn how to better support women.

“One of the big things that I’m doing is like I’m learning about how I would be a better advocate and ally for women in the workplace, studying gender equity in the workplace and how I can step up,” Jones-Fosu said.

Jones-Fosu says we all need to respect and learn about one another to help the next generation.

“To think about our kids or our grandkids, or you know, our friends, kids, and we really want them to grow up in a place that’s so divisive. But we want to grow them to a place where people can disagree, but still honor respect people and see people’s humanity,” Jones-Fosu said.

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Here’s an example of an at-home exercise he recommends:

“Do a six-month challenge to start enlarging your circles. Every six months go to an event (virtual or in-person) and engage with someone in which you disagree or do not know a lot about. It’s easy to find events via Eventbrite or Facebook events. Go with only two questions and no answers.

Question 1: What did I learn about this group, person or experience?

Question 2: What did I learn about myself as I experienced this event or person? Remember diversity and inclusion is not about agreement but rather respecting others especially when you disagree.”

You can find out more about Jones-Fosu’s work here.

Cox Media Group