Dr. Joe-Joe McManus is a leading voice calling for fellow white people to live anti-racist lives, and for all of us to work in solidarity toward equity, inclusion, and social justice.
For more than three decades McManus has actively advocated for anti-racism in education and beyond. As an educational leader and advisor, systemic change toward equity and inclusion informs his work advising senior leaders. Dr. McManus works in collaboration with leaders to embrace opportunities to promote system and culture change toward inclusive excellence in the workplace.
Beyond the workplace, he encourages us all to live our best anti-racist, inclusive lives out loud - in our families, circles of friends and colleagues, and in our communities.
SELECT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
Much of what we learn as children, including racism or anti-racism, is determined by the choices of others. However, at some point, our learning, our experiences, and our behaviors are guided by our own decisions.
DR. JOE-JOE MCMANUS
Advisor to Leaders
Dr. Joe-Joe has experience in faculty, administration, and organizational development characterized by excellence, institutional advancement, and moving equity and social justice agendas forward. This includes serving as an Executive Diversity Officer and other diversity, equity, and inclusion related roles at an HBCU, Ivy League institution, international university, and the largest urban public university system in the U.S. He has lectured, served on panels, delivered presentations, and consulted in the U.S. and internationally.
McManus serves as an advisor to Presidents and CEO's, Executive Diversity Officers, and other thought leaders and practitioners across sectors. His work promotes effective anti-racism and inclusive excellence through the ongoing development of leaders, policy, and practice.
We must learn to bridge the empathy gap across racial and other socially constructed divides.
DR. JOE-JOE MCMANUS
Speaker
It was in elementary school that Joe-Joe remembers first speaking out against racism when a teacher required students to memorize whitewashed "facts" about the first dozen US American Presidents. His teacher referred to this group of Presidents as "great leaders," although nearly all of them were also plantation owners who gained power by profiting from enslaving African people. Having watched and discussed the acclaimed 1977 miniseries Roots with his family a couple of years prior, Joe-Joe was shocked and angry. He had always been scared to speak in class until that assignment made him forget his fear and speak up. As a result of riling up his classmates and "disrespecting" his teacher, he was sent to the Principal's office for the first time.
Growing up in a mixed-race, multicultural, and interreligious family, Joe-Joe and his younger brothers, Kacey, and B-J grew up in a white-flight town south of Boston, Massachusetts. Kacey often faced anti-Black racism. He was 11 months younger than Joe-Joe, adopted, and African American. Joe-Joe understood that the "Great Leaders" assignment was racist, and being Kacey's brother was certainly part of why he spoke up in class. That along with his anti-racist upbringing and specific guidance from his parents that when they saw injustice the boys were expected to step up in whatever way they could.
Joe-Joe’s anti-racism efforts have led him to speak with audiences at schools, universities, corporations, and other organizations across the U.S. and internationally. His efforts became his profession, and his goals mirror his personal actions since childhood; promoting active, intersectional, anti-racism and inclusive excellence in education, leadership, and in how we live our daily lives.
Testimonials
Dr. Joe-Joe McManus isn't afraid to say it like it is. He has a penetrating and wide-ranging knowledge of diversity issues affecting education in the United States, particularly in regard to race and class, and total commitment to being an agent of positive change. His personal and professional style is upfront, energetic, and sometimes in-your-face, but he doesn't back down from practicing compassion in places where it's most needed as well.
Mushim (Patricia) Ikeda-Nash Buddhist Teacher and Author, Oakland, CA
In a field over-full with talkers, pontificators, and philosophers, Joe-Joe is a doer, a mover, an organizer. I imagine where we might be today if the social justice education movement had as many doers like Joe-Joe as we have talkers who talk a lot, but who say little and do even littler.
Paul Gorski Author and Founder/Lead Equity Specialist, Equity Literacy Institute