Diversity, Inc. by Pamela Newkirk

Diversity, Inc. by Pamela Newkirk

In the near future, white Americans will no longer constitute a national majority. Despite this, elite institutions such as Hollywood, corporate America, and academia are disproportionately white. In an effort to "diversify," industry and foundation leaders have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to commission studies and training sessions; hire consultants and create diversity programs to address the glaring paucity of people of color among their ranks. But is it working?

In Diversity, Inc., award-winning journalist Pamela Newkirk explores these three industries, showing how the vast majority of their diversity efforts are all optics. For example, between 2014 and 2016, Google spent $265 million dollars on some of the most common tactics for diversifying the workforce, but their percentage of black employees remains stubbornly at 2%. In showing why these efforts are failing, Newkirk more importantly shows us what we can do to actually better achieve these worthy goals.

Pamela Newkirk is a native New Yorker and an award-winning journalist who worked as a reporter and writer for eleven years before joining the New York University journalism faculty. Her work on race, media, art, and culture has appeared in a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Artnews, and The Nation. Behind the Veil: Black Journalists, White Media (1999), her debut book, received the National Press Club Prize for media critique.