Justice Rolando Acosta shares his story of growing up in the Dominican Republic and coming to New York at 14, finding opportunities by excelling academically and on the baseball field, and choosing the law and going to work at Legal Aid as a way of paying back the help that had been given to his family.

Justice Acosta and his daughter Zila Acosta-Grimes compare notes on their upbringing and their privileges, and how they have learned to use privilege as power.

Justice Acosta remembers for us his time building the Dominican community in Washington Heights and Inwood by building up social service infrastructure like Alianza Dominicana and Community Association of Progressive Dominicans alongside other community leaders like Adriano Espaillat and Dr. Raphael Lantigua.

Justice Acosta also shares insights about the challenges of making change happen at the institutional level, delving into his own efforts to modernize the Appellate Division First Department while he was Presiding Justice.

Justice Acosta talked with the ODEIB team about the importance of representation not just in the workplace and the boardroom, but in institutions of justice and as a building block of the rule of law.

DEIB for the People – a Collection of DEIB Content for Your Screens

Mary Ellen: #DoTheWork from writer/activist Rachel Cargle – https://bityl.co/IqtB
Tanya: Ru Paul’s Drag Race – https://bityl.co/IqtH
Angie: Crip Camp – https://bityl.co/IqtI (Streaming); https://bityl.co/IqtN (Home Page)

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Using Privilege for Progress

In the first episode of Building Belonging season two, ODEIB dives deep into the fundamental question: What is DEI really? With the haters circling and pushback in full force, a lot of people are returning to this question to understand how to move justice forward. 

The team explores their individual journeys into DEI and what it means to them. As Eli puts it, this conversation seeks to address 'what DEI is, what it is not, where it is going, and who our allies are,' clearing up misconceptions and providing a nuanced understanding of essential concepts.  

Tanya highlights the innate human essence of DEI, saying, 'At its core, it is one of the most innate and human things that we have.' Angie drives home the practical importance of DEI: 'It's everything that makes the world more accessible to everyone.' By offering their personal insights and discussing the broader significance of DEI, the team aims to inspire listeners to open their eyes to new opportunities and get involved in this transformative work.

Back to Our Roots: What Is DEI, Really?

Everyone thinks they know what DEI is. But the disagreements over what DEI is, what it should do, and how it should be done stretch far into the past. Far before the attacks on DEI that characterize this moment in 2025.
 
On this episode of the podcast we continue wrestling with our own attitudes towards these foundational questions by unpacking what, for us, constitutes the worst of the DEI that we’ve seen as well as the most heinous of the mischaracterizations that are gaining traction right now. It’s all the hollow DEI work that we’ll actually be waving a happy goodbye to even as we mourn the end of many vital DEI programs that we admired. No goals, no metrics, no fact-checks, no spine. This is what “boo boo doo doo DEI” efforts have in common.

Good Bye BooBoo DooDoo DEI

When a hateful voicemail message hurtled out of the clear blue sky to explode on Tanya’s sunshine-y Saturday, we knew that the kind of hate we fight against had come right up to our doorstep. This wasn’t ODEIB’s first experience with shameful hate mail, but it was the first time that we had been targeted with a message of explicit violence.
 
We were all shaken up, there’s no way around that. In that numb moment of pain and bewilderment, the crew decided to process and heal together by talking through our emotions and reactions. And we knew we wanted to document that process for you, our listeners, in order to model the way that we draw on community and self-care to sustain ourselves in the most harrowing moments of DEI work.
 
We’re making sweet lemonade with some pretty rotten lemons today. Tanya said it best right on this episode: “We're gonna take that hate, we're gonna hug it and love it, and we're gonna turn it into love and education for the rest of the world. This is how you turn obstacles into opportunities.”

9am Is Too Early for Hate Mail

“You’re not helping Black people by helping them get jobs that they’re not qualified for.” “Community college students are too low-skill to benefit from pipeline programs.” “You’re doing ‘skin deep’ diversity and that’s not fair, just pick the best person for the job.” 
 
These are just a few examples of things people have actually said to our faces. Sometimes it’s so off-base, so clueless that we’re just lost for words.
 
One skill that every DEIB practitioner builds is keeping composure in a micro-aggression moment like this, taking a deep breath, and taking a step back to reframe the issue by calling out biased assumptions and correcting the record. Sometimes these are moments of opportunity to claim the narrative and educate the people around us. Sometimes they are moments to center our own well-being and avoid draining our cup with someone who does not want to change.
 
It’s all part of a larger DEIB skillset that we unpack in today’s episode, which is really about what to do – what we do, because it happens all the time – when people say wild sh*t to us about DEIB.

Sh*t People Really Say to Us about DEIB

Building Belonging embraces authentic conversations about DEIB solutions by amplifying the most marginalized voices in the legal industry and exploring spaces others dare not. Join us at the Office for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, at the New York City Bar Association in Building Belonging in the legal industry and beyond.

Using Privilege for Progress

Building Belonging

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