35th Annual Conference

March 27-29, 2023

 

Democracy or Dictatorship: How the Stop W.O.K.E. Act is Fueling America’s Intolerance

90-minute Workshops

Day 2

Session Code: S4-F
When: March 28, 2023
Level: Intermediate
Track: Social Responsibility
Industry Designation: Legal
Presenters: Bacardi Jackson, Southern Poverty Law Center  |  Chevara Orrin, Collective Concepts

Description

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s “War on Wokeness” was signed into Florida law on July 1, 2022. The Stop W.O.K.E. (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act is the strongest legislation in the United States and effectively silences DEIJ practitioners and prohibits workplace training or school instruction that teaches that individuals are “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously”; that people are privileged or oppressed based on race, gender, or national origin; or that a person “bears personal responsibility for and must feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress” over actions committed in the past by members of the same race, gender, or national origin. The law says such trainings or lessons amount to discrimination.

In this workshop, Chevara Orrin — one of only three plaintiffs in a massive lawsuit filed by Protect Democracy against the DeSantis bill — will share firsthand knowledge and strategy that employers can use to become part of the solution as we collectively work to abolish harmful legislation sweeping across the U.S. and around the world that is a direct attack on marginalized communities in the workplace and beyond.

Urgency is necessary if we are to remain a world by and “for the people.”

Learning Outcomes:

• Learn how censorship has been violently used throughout the decades to create a normative narrative and muzzle independent institutions
• Learn how this legislation is currently harming DEIJ practitioners who are being forced to modify their teachings, and the financial implications
• Learn how to use collective institutional power to stand up against similar legislation and leverage their standing to influence public policy

The Forum on Workplace Inclusion®
2211 Riverside Ave, CB 54
Minneapolis, MN 55454
workplaceforum@augsburg.edu
(612) 373-5994

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