ABSTRACT
This chapter considers critical issues of race in organizational communication with an emphasis on “here’s where we are now; here’s where we need to be going.” We situate our understanding of race theoretically and conceptually, give a brief history, and explain key terms. We explore recent organizational communication and related writing on race by considering progressive work on difference and diversity/DEI. We argue that much useful work on race is wrongly seen as falling outside the boundaries of organizational communication. We then turn to the writing and experiences of organizational communication scholars interrogating their discipline and the ivory tower as spaces where race is relevant. We call on organizational communication scholars to take seriously the words that we and others are tired of saying. We cannot continue to ignore race, theorize it in problematic ways, or consider it irrelevant. Instead, the discipline needs scholar-activists.
