During the rise of the BLM movement of 2020, confederate monuments became a focal point of national debate, with heightened awareness of their historical context and implications for racial equality. My research seeks to leverage this moment of increased attention to explore how the presence of symbols of marginalization near voting stations may impact voting intentions and overall experience. In this study, Black and White Americans are presented with a simulated map along with a set of instructions that lead them to a nearby polling station. In the experimental group, participants received a map featuring Confederate monuments while participants in the control group received a neutral map with directions that avoided any mention of Confederate monuments. Once the participant correctly identifies the voting station on the map, they are asked a series of questions not only on the usefulness of the map but also on factors such as safety, comfort, the value of the vote, personal belonging, and likelihood of voting. Findings suggest Black participants exposed to Confederate monuments expressed a diminished value of their vote and reduced intention to vote, whereas White participants indicated no changes in voting intentions, perception of vote value, or a desire to change voting locations. As an extension to this study, I am currently conducting a replication study where participants are explicitly informed that the map represents a neighborhood in the South. After navigating the map, participants are asked not only about the impact of factors such as comfort, safety, value, personal belonging, and the likelihood of voting but also regarding their relative importance and influence on voting behaviors and intentions. Collectively, these studies have important implications for racial disparities in voting intentions and for advancing a more inclusive and equitable electoral process within the United States.

In recent years, organizations have increasingly expressed support for efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Some of these efforts are informed by research on how to promote DEI, but much of this research on how to communicate and promote DEI in organizations fails to account for qualities of the communicator, that is, the diversity specialists charged with operationalizing and implementing DEI sentiments to improve organizational equity and inclusion. Critically, communicators bring their own social identities (e.g., gender, race) and experiences (e.g., status, power) to their work. This proposal aims to better understand how DEI personnel in the public sector experience their roles, understand their jobs and their ability to effect change, as well as consider how their personal identities interact with their work. We are conducting semi-structured interviews with DEI management personnel across cities in Pacific Northwest states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska). Participants will be asked about their perceptions of their job responsibilities as well as their backgrounds and identity. We will be coding interview responses to examine the pressures that individuals feel in their jobs, constraints they experience in how they can advocate for DEI as a function of their social identities, how they conceptualize and communicate the importance of DEI. By better understanding the daily experiences of implementing DEI practices in organizations, this proposal aims to improve our understanding of efforts to improve DEI in public organizations.