Does valuing diversity come easily? Why or why not? Can you make some suggestions to enhance a group's ability to value diversity?
When it comes to diversity it takes time and education to value it. Growing up in Santa Clara County we are all spoiled because at any given time we can see three or four different ethnicities at any time. Growing up here gives us an insight into the cultures and we are able to learn the value of diversity. Diversity makes each of us unique. Valuing anything that is different from what you currently is difficult and hard to adapt to. When I was younger I lived in Virginia for several years and seeing the way they saw people of a different color or ethnic background was eye opening. When you are ignorant of other cultures and don't have any education on them people assume and create prejudices about them. I am from a mixed background and when people in rural Virginia saw me they initially were appalled that Black and White people had children. As disappointing as this was it was nice to see people try and come out of their comfort zone and get to know us. Its strange that people look at anyone different from themselves like aliens but they do. My suggestion for a group to enhance a group's value of diversity is to get to know each other. Let each member talk about themselves and let each person connect with them. I think connecting and bonding will increase the value people have in diversity.
Good evening Mr Almond, I can relate to your experience on how Virginians see people of different color or ethnic background. When I was in the Marines, I was stationed in North Carolina and I had a few buddies of mine that were from Virgina. We would constantly take trips up to visit their families and friends and other neighboring cities and states such as Atlanta, South Carolina and Kentucky.
ReplyDeleteMy friends that I hung out with were black so I would always go to their places that had other black there. I am Mexican and when I would go visit it was like they hardly ever seen a Mexican in Virginia let alone hanging out with black people. They were very nice to me, I got to eat some good "soul food", drank some horrible beer (malt liquor) but that was their favorite drink and listened to their music. I would not say that I got educated by them but I got a glimpse of what makes them happy out in Virginia, just as you suggested we got to know each other and things ended up working out.
Good post and keep up the good work.
Hi Mr. Gonzalez,
ReplyDeleteThe thing about people in the south is the way they think. They are raised the way their parents were raised and so on. Black and White families bread the same prejudices and biases they were raised to have and it continues. This is reality of most of the US and it will continue until they learn to respect and accept differences.
I totally agree with your suggestion for diverse groups. Simply taking the time to know the people in the group can mean a lot. Indeed we are spoiled by living with so many different ethnicities! I’m really grateful for it because I am aware of other cultures and ethnicities compared to other people. For example, the people who were appalled that an African American and Caucasian person can have children probably grew up in either group with social stigmas surrounding that. For us who grew up in diverse communities, it is not uncommon to see couples of different races and people of mixed race.
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