Racism and its existence are an unlikely novelty in the contemporary worldview. From colonial conquests to ethnic discriminations, and the paradoxical post European-Western Enlightenment racial experimentation; the way we perceive and interpret racism on all levels of society is ever-changing. Change is accelerated by the technological advancements and enabled by the social connectivity of the Internet and the tools designed for the social globalised society. Accelerated if not from the scope of per individual equity, then from the scope of connectivity established over some hundred or two hundred years that today separate from the overall socially disconnected and abrupt societies.

The way racism is perceived and interpreted in heterogeneous societies poses an experience of its own and consistently introduces the developing understanding of diversity, inclusion, and other forms of belonging and cooperation within the diverse and residing together socialscape. Heterogeneous societies of North America – that is Canada and the United States – are the cases of not mere diversity, but what today is seen as heterogeneous ideal founded societies unlike the complex and history entrenched homogeneous societies of Europe.

The heterogeneous environment of the United States erupted with the pushback to the history of slavery, discrimination, police brutality, and the administrative treatment of its African American and other – as illustrated by the Jamaican American onboarding on the Black Lives Matter movement – “Black” community members. The movement is encapsulating the essence of resistance of the primarily non-Hispanic blacks. However, COVID-19 inquiries into the vulnerability to become exposed and to encounter disproportional treatment quality showcase the vulnerability of Black and Hispanic minorities. Should the considerations for the self-identifying categories that could recategorise some Latino members of society into the Black category be noted, all the same the data would convey concerning larger risks for Blacks and Latinos than for other societal groups in North America. Notable complication of COVID-19 could also be observed for the various acknowledged – historic minority groups of the conquest ceased territory – Native Canadian and Native American populations in their cooperation with the governing administration. The COVID-19 origination, mishandling, and subsequent not completely unexpected spread of the virus in the globalised world sparked other discriminatory and xenophobic tendencies including attacks on the Asians – furious on Chinese, but not limited to and prompt to other representatives of broader visible East Asian background – and relapse into scapegoating of the Jews. The globalised society susceptible to the biological threat that is imminent in the considerably mobilised and interconnected world of the 2020 is the actual inherent fear that was not uncommon in the historic health calamities that came in part with the travel routs and exchanges of the past. The forceful military intrusion of the other, plight of foreigners or on the contrary their appearance as part of the conquered territory, or the sudden agony of a plague all contributed to the xenophobic tendencies among the people of societies across the lands. The Middle Eastern Muslim members receiving the additional backlash in the post-9/11 world due to suspicion and prosecution in suspicion of ills against the State and correlation to terrorism are another addition to the Unites States’ “melting pot” and the Canadian “tossed salad”. While not undermining the national security concerns and efforts, the recent pushback and developments have increasingly added to the need for racism and colonialism aware, bias conscious counter-terrorism research and practice.

Recently spotted image on Facebook read, “Lives matter if you need a color in front of those two words… You’re a racist. We are Canadian.” Parting from the notions of the Black Lives Matter and the polarised White Lives Matter message, offering the national identity common ground and reminder of the importance of all lives following the issues and concerns of the Jewish communities, vandalised synagogues and other religious and non religious sites of whole range of social groups explicitly or by mere act of hooliganism, that undermines the legitimate efforts of the pushback, accidentally targeted. Further discussion on the image proposes the ease of substituting the “We are Canadian.” for “We are American.” and vice versa, that however falls short of the heterogeneous ideal as soon as the elaborations of other identity creep in and showcase the multicultural rigid mosaic once approached for a closer intercommunal observation. While the discussions over the superiority or dearness of a favourite sport could seem to be an absurd endeavour, the history, cultural sentiment and memory entrenched ethnic categories could prove otherwise and fall to rooted dynamics, as well as new conflicts over disfluencies and misunderstandings enhanced by all walks of leadership and political discrepancies to formation of united globalised pathways.

Questions remain of the gap between the heterogeneous environment and the heterogeneous ideal, as well as what is being done and can be done to address it. The recent Black Lives Matter movement efforts brought attention to otherwise less addressed matter. Private sector stood up to the challenge voicing and highlighting the precedence of the much need action towards diversity, inclusion, equity, and integration. NeuroLeadership Institute in North America stressed the importance for quality counter-bias training for law enforcement and announced interest to assist on the matter in their prompt online broadcasting pivot towards diversity and inclusion contributions asides the otherwise COVID-19 concerns response programming. In their Your Brain at Work LIVE meeting on What Data-Driven D&I Can Look Like, Suzanne McGovern (CDO, Splunk) highlighted the data driven approach to Diversity and Inclusion based on the embraced idea of the inability to change something that can not be measured therefore conveying the essence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion as assurance to reduced bias inclusion. Simultaneous journalistic attempts to grant voice to the inequalities of the minority populations enable discussion of discrimination and create greater transparency to enable service for the wellbeing of all members of the country contributing to the establishment of the socialscape of consideration and compassion for the wellbeing of the society as a whole.

Whether the nation is represented in the face of Donald Trump or in the face of Justin Trudeau across the boarder – with the more compassionate leadership on the matter and drastically different situations – the heterogeneity concerns are equally valid. Research shows that diversity, equity, and inclusion culture have significant impact on the performance of its members, showcasing the importance for diverse integration across all levels of opportunities and ability for authentic participation. Pointing at the benefits of development of diverse members to overall collective development whether of a corporate, institutional, or other organisational structure, or the nation as a whole and living up to the heterogeneous ideal of the United States or Canada for what they are proclaimed to be and endowed with beyond the immigration quota and refugee intake, or the national and flag cliché.