Box of delight

As a Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) Board member, I am hugely proud of the progress our organization has made in recent years toward addressing issues  around diversity, inclusion, and social equity, including playing a leadership role in the formation of C4DISC (Coaltion for Diversity & Inclusion in Scholarly Communications) and establishing a Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Task Force.

We still have a long way to go, to be sure, but — if I’m doing the math right! — this year’s Annual Meeting features more D&I content than ever before. This includes what promises to be an unmissable opportunity for anyone who wants to truly walk the walk on diversity and inclusion — a pre-conference workshop on Identifying and Responding to Micro-aggressions at Work, facilitated by Dr. Joseph Williams, a scholar and expert in multicultural and social justice training. If you’re attending the SSP meeting, we hope that this interview with Dr Williams will be all the inspiration you need to sign up for the workshop; if you’re not attending, then this is your chance to learn a bit more about micro-aggressions, and why we must all take responsibility — individually and collectively — for recognizing and addressing them.

Years ago, during my then press’s annual Thanksgiving celebration, one entirely white department came in to great fanfare dressed as “Native-Americans” for “fun.” Obviously, I can’t speak to how all of my other colleagues felt, though some were clearly amused and delighted by it, but I do remember that I and the one other person of color on staff immediately made eye contact with each other with a look of total dismay.