Stopping Hate Starts with Diversity

We all know it: the public relations field lacks diversity. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that employment in PR is:

• 83.3% White
• 11.0% Black or African American
• 3.4% Asian
• 13.6% Hispanic or Latino

These number are telling. The issue is that the people in this field aren’t fully representing clients at a local or global level. How are PR companies able to understand and work with people of different backgrounds? How are companies able to extend the conversation to include and reach their publics?

Since the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes increased to 150%. Asian Americans are being blamed, discriminated and attacked for the coronavirus disease. However, these are simply acts of racism.

With the recent crimes against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, we need to be aware, educate and take action to be better human beings. This means that we need to implement diversity and inclusion into our workplace. As PR professionals, we have the power to do this by using our voice and taking action for the betterment of our workplace.

First, let’s understand the importance of diversity and inclusion.

Diversity means having different backgrounds such as ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, social class, physical ability, religion, ethical value system, national origin, political belief and much more.

Diversity can have multiple benefits to the workplace. Some of the benefits are gaining new perspectives, growing acceptance and diminishing discrimination. Having diversity allows you to learn and understand someone’s struggles, values and experiences. Through contact and exposure, you can learn about similarities and differences. These things nurture sensitivity towards other cultures, ideas, opinions and create healthier conversations.

While we know what diversity is, what we need to do is the next step. The next step is being inclusive. Being inclusive means recognizing, respecting and incorporating people’s differences into our conversations and work.

Here’s how PR companies can take the next steps to incorporate this:

1. Be aware of the problem that there is a lack of diversity.
2. Listen and understand the needs of your colleagues and clients.
3. Advocate open conversations about diversity.
4. Work on recruitment and hire diverse candidates.
5. Establish policies for discrimination and hate and enact on them.
6. Have a diversity/inclusion officer to ensure execution.

The need for diversity and inclusion are crucial to our industry. As PR professionals, we are able to spread awareness and empower change.

We must stop discrimination and hate.

We must be better together.

If you experience a hate crime against Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders, report it to stopaapihate.org.