..What They Mean to Us, and Why We’re Taking the Lead in Healing the Racial Divides
Many people hear the words Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and automatically tense up. They either prepare for a fight or get ready to defend themselves. The assumption is that the only way that other voices can be included at the social table is for the majority of voices already there to be removed to make room for these new voices.
At Path To Publishing, that’s never been our belief. We believe that the best way to make room for new voices isn’t to take chairs away from the people already at the table. It’s to build a bigger table. We believe there is ALWAYS room for one more voice – and if there isn’t, we’ll make room.
When 2020 hit, many companies were scrambling to put together teams that reflected diversity because their investor funding, and their company’s survival, depended on it. That wasn’t true for us. Diversity was built into our DNA from the beginning, and it’s also built into our traditional publishing imprint, PTP Press.
Our founder, Joylynn M. Ross, made sure to assemble an advisory team made up of diverse groups of authors from all walks of life. Rich and poor, Black and white, we trust one another and we value each other’s experiences.
When Nikki T. Anthony’s book, The Price We Pay, came across our desk, our team was able to have an open, honest, and respectful conversation around the racial issues it presented without people becoming angry or walking out precisely because of this trust and the relationships we’d built with one another.
This experience of being able to use the book as a starting point in a conversation about race that maintained respect while being open and honest about what we thought and felt allowed both sides to challenge themselves and see things in a new light. That gave us hope that this book could be more than just a book. It could be the beginning of something much bigger.
We saw in it a novel way to conquer the fear around difficult social conversations like this and open the door to the kind of respectful dialogue that leads to insights and greater understanding. We may not have created the problems between the races or the system that perpetuates them, but we knew we could take the lead in doing something about it and become part of the solution.
Of course, we also knew that we couldn’t do it alone. We would need to build a community of like-minded individuals who were willing to commit their time, energy, and money into the cause. That’s why we chose to crowdfund this movement.
For more details about our book and our work to change the way difficult conversations are held, visit our crowdfunding campaign page at https://ptppress.com/taking-a-novel-approach-to-change. #JoinTheConversation.You can also visit www.ptppress.com to learn more about Path To Publishing’s traditional publishing imprint.