Diversity

As MU looks hard at diversity, the world’s first J-School also needs to revisit a ‘notorious act of racism’.

In the wake of historic changes at my alma mater in Columbia, it seems as though everybody in a position of power there has been clawing for higher ground. University administrators who were forced to resign don’t want to be seen as racist, maybe just clueless. The Board of Curators, which actually thanked those former…

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WyCo’s ‘Day of the Dead’ Brings Tradition to Life

It sounds ominous: “The Day of the Dead.” But this November in Wyandotte County, as in many other locations around the country, the Mexican holiday El Día de los Muertos is all about keeping traditions very much alive. The day is celebrated on the first two days of November to honor those who have died….

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Views of the News: An Historic Week For the University of Missouri

It’s been a historic week at the University of Missouri. On Monday, Tim Wolfe resigned as president of the UM System. Hours later, Chancellor R. Bowen Loftin announced he is stepping down from that office at the end of the year. NPR-affiliate KBIA brings us this video, “Views of the News,” from the Missouri School…

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Define Yourself: The Iway Family, Part 4:

Doctors Olivia and Belino Iway came to the United States in 1974 from the Philippines on student visas, carrying $200 in their pockets and three young children to care for. After Belino completed his medical residency in New York City, where their fourth child was born, the family was invited to move to Elkhart, Kansas, to staff the small town’s fledgling hospital, where they spent over 30 years building its present capacity of several hundred employees with specialized units that serve patients from many of the larger surrounding communities.

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Being Filipino: The Iway Family, Part 3

In this edition of Your Fellow Americans, the Iway family discusses what their Filipino culture means to them as the talk about dance, education, and finally understanding their parents. How does the American Dream look different for children and adults? Why does the United States put such an emphasis on doing what makes you happy? Is discipline undervalued as a means to ‘the good life?’ We want to know your thoughts.

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American Dreaming: The Iway Family, Part 2

Doctors Olivia & Belino Iway came to the United States in 1974 from the Philippines on student visas, carrying $200 in their pockets and with three young children to care for. After Belino completed his medical residency in New York City, where their fourth child was born, the family was invited to move to Elkhart, KS to staff the small town’s fledgling hospital. Over a career of 30 years in that community, the Drs. Iway built the hospital into its present capacity of several hundred employees, with specialized units that draw in patients from many of the larger surrounding communities.

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Hidden Beauty: The Malek Family, Part 3

Altaf and Shaheen Malek immigrated to the United States in 2007 from Gujarat, India. They came at the insistence of Altaf’s sister, who sponsored their immigration. Altaf, then the owner of a well-established electronics shop, and Shaheen, a pharmacist, did not jump at the opportunity to leave their well-established life. After discussing it heavily, and seeking feedback from others in their community, they decided to leave everything behind and start over in the United States for the sake of their children, Tanzeem (then 11) and Ayan (then 7).

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Getting rid of the vestiges of racism – in health care

Missouri’s medical schools on Friday kicked off a collaborative effort to encourage minorities to enter the health care professions. Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Louis Sullivan, who served under President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, helped launch the project, delivering a lecture Friday at the University of Missouri-Kansas City on the state of diversity in the health care workforce since 1965.

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Talking Diversity

Kansas City Mayor Sly James joined KCPT producers Christopher Cook and Nathaniel Bozarth, a panel of four community advocates and about 200 Kansas Citians who came out to the Gem Theater to discuss ways to bridge racial and cultural divides in our communities. That issue is also the topic of a series of digital videos that KCPT and Flatland are producing in partnership with Cook and Bozarth. The discussion was moderated by KCPT executive producer Nick Haines.

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