inequality-opoly.com : learn a racial inequities board game? Inequality-opoly is created by Perry Clemons, an former 3rd grade and ESL educator and current educational game creator. Perry is the founder of Clemons Education Inc. which strives to create educational games and experiences that are MIRRORS for Self-discovery, WINDOWS into other worlds, and DOORS to new opportunities. Perry Clemons is an educator, game creator, and current contact tracer from Harlem, NY. The idea for Inequality-opoly came when Perry attended diversity, equity, and inclusion seminars. Read more info at https://www.linkedin.com/in/perry-clemons-122793ab.
Diversity And Inclusion tip for today : According to Harvard Business Review, companies with higher-than-average diversity had 19% higher revenues. It is the first vital activity to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Team managers can arrange monthly seatings to discuss and design the different diversity acts. For example, employees with different backgrounds can brief what holy days or holidays are essential to them. Accordingly, they can be offered time off. It spreads historical and cultural knowledge among coworkers. It also increases interpersonal understanding with the fewest possible side effects.
When I played Inequality-opoly, I was deeply impressed by how population statistics come to life as each player experiences the many ways in which race and gender have a dramatic and significant impact on daily life events. But even more impressive – and depressing – is the realization of the inevitability of the unfairness in the game’s ultimate outcome. It is the clear connection between cause and effect, in this case the link from systemic racism and sexism to the lived experiences of individuals, that makes Inequality-opoly such a powerful educational tool.
One of the things that originally drove me to work in the Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) space was the stark contrast between the gut-wrenching emotions of hearing about specific experiences of individuals in a given demographic group, and the detached analysis of statistical, population-level data that describe the group as a whole. This is true for any type of societal context: in the workplace, talking about the high churn rate of women does not convey the kinds of individual stories we heard thanks to the #metoo movement; in a city, the statistics about disproportionate policing of Black people does not begin to convey the sensations we get when we watch videos of George Floyd’s murder.
Systemic racism and sexism created disparities in wealth and income for Black women. Wealth and income are two components of economic well-being. Income is a flow of money that comes in from employment, social security, or other sources, yet wealth consists of assets (e.g., homes, cash, businesses, vehicles) minus debt (e.g., credit cards, student loans, mortgages, medical debt). Wealth is critical. In its absence, families have difficulty managing financial emergencies, passing money down to the next generation and participating in activities that can build even more wealth like purchasing a home or starting a business. Research shows the racial wealth gap is even larger than the income gap. Read even more information on The Game of Structural Racism and Sexism in America.