Eighteenth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

The recent past has seen some unique and unprecedented events sprouting within the United States’ socio-political landscape, a large portion of which is laced with race-based rhetoric. However, there is little to no literature that examines the characteristics and possible reasons for this phenomenon. These most current events have certain unique elements, which segregate them from historical racism, creating the need to understanding these elements if we are to facilitate agencies and strategies to mitigate their negative effects on the United Sates and, perhaps, the world. The paper contributes to literature and provide a foundation upon which future research may be done on this issue. Survey, interviews, and document-based data were gathered during 2016 and the post-election period in 2017, and using a Qualitative methodology, information was triangulated and analyzed. Despite the fact that a large gap in literature exists with respect to the most current racism trends, every attempt was made to support the discussion with literature wherever possible. The findings suggest that the United States is under the throes of a new kind of social, political, and economic frenzy, which demands a fresh perspective and paradigm. Thus, a new concept of Negative Social Irrigation Paradigm or NSI that represents critical trends of race-focused rhetoric and bias existing in the current period in the United States is discussed, along with practitioner and future research implications.