Al Vivian, a national diversity and inclusion facilitator and son of civil rights leader C.T. Vivian, was the keynote speaker for the Race at Georgia Tech: A Call to Action conversation on Thursday, Jan. 21. The virtual discussion was the second in a series of campus discussions on race.

"Talking about issues of race and racism is hard," said Vice President for Institute Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Archie Ervin during the conversation. "Over the past year, in the wake of last summer’s national racial turmoil, marked by the sensless killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others, and more recently, the events in our nation's Capitol earlier this month, have made these converrsations even more difficult as concerns about racism and its impact have intensified and continues to bubble to the surface of our national discourse.”

Vivian heads Basic Diversity Inc., a national full-service cultural diversity training and consulting firm best known for its Race Awareness Workshop. His father, a confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., founded the organization more than 45 years ago. The firm has worked with a diverse range of clients and organizations including corporations, nonprofits and, government agencies.

“I’ll start off with a statement that is just outright true: racism in America is nothing new; it’s our original sin. It’s been with us from the beginning,” Vivian said, beginning his presentation. “If you don’t understand race, your future success will be limited.”