Discussions about racial diversity need to focus on people of colour's work, not just their background, if we want to make positive change ? something that architecture diversity platform Sound Advice is doing in its Now You Know publication, says Joseph Henry.

The conversation about diversity needs to expand to celebrate the work and practice of people of colour. The racial reckoning that we witnessed after the murder of George Floyd created much-needed space for black people to talk about our experience. Our experience in wider society and our experiences within the architectural and design industries.
But the discussion of diversity as framed by "white-institutions'' often feels extractive and is coupled with the constant requirement to recount experiences of discrimination as a form of learning for what seems to be for the sole benefit of helping white colleagues feel better about their performative ally-ship. I doubt that this method will deliver much positive change. I understand that a lot of these spaces for diversity and inclusion conservations are well-intentioned and last June they felt cathartic. But now discussions that focus solely on diversity feel like an excuse to not move things forward.
It is no longer enough to only extract our emotional reactions to traumatic experiences and to frame our value solely as diversity experts within the design and architecture industry. Instead, it is imperative that we expand the conversation and opportunities for ...