Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed out years ago that “People fail to get along with each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other. They don’t know each other because they have not properly communicated with each other.”
This cycle of fear and lack of understanding can be broken when communication is as personal as possible. This doesn’t mean that you wear your heart on your sleeve or pry into the other person’s private life. It means that you Take In (listen for, perceive) and Give Out (express, clarify) relevant aspects of the 4 qualities that help make you a person: your Choices, Emotions-Spirit-Personality (ESP), Reflections (thoughts about thoughts) and your Mindfulness.
When you can help parts of these four on the table between you and the other person, you can create a situation where uniquenesses meet. Then your communicating is as personal as possible.
When equity and race are on the line, it’s also important to practice three additional communication skills: Curiosity, Cultural Humility, and Platinum Empathy. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 show you how to do this.
Personal Communicating and Racial Equity can serve you as a short-but-substantive self-help guide for people who want to improve their intercultural communicating. It can also work well as the foundation for a workshop, seminar, or class focused on race and equity.
When you buy it from the publisher, Kendall-Hunt www.kendallhunt.com, it costs only $12.95. The book is also available in audiobook form at amazon.com.
