ITS initiates roundtable discussions on race in America

Back in June, ITS began holding weekly team meetings to discuss issues of race, share perspectives and experiences and talk about how to support diversity as individuals, as a team and within the Mines community.

They invited Christine Homer, founder of Breakthrough Culture, to facilitate the hour-long discussions. More than 50 members of ITS joined the first call on June 12. The conversations expanded to discuss topics such as restitution, microaggressions, the concept of “colorblindness” and the structures in the U.S. that lead to systemic racism.

“These roundtable conversations on race issues in America have been successful because they matter to me and my employees and they have created a safe place for us to listen, learn, stimulate our curiosity and arm us to be better allies to others,” said Monique Sendze, chief information officer at Mines. “Creating a more diverse workforce, making it inclusive for everyone to bring their unique backgrounds to solve problems and drive innovation is important to me. And looking at the state of race relationships and racial injustices in our country in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and many of the other racial injustices and inequities that all happened in May, it was a clear sign as a leader that I could not afford to be silent; but had to engage my staff in empathetic discussions in ways to stimulate productive conversations, share our stories, experiences and engage our racial histories because I care about them outside of what they produce and I know their stories can engender actions that can make a difference for ITS, Mines and why not the country.”