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Diversity needs to grow up

Posted in Irshaddering Thoughts, On The Road on Jan 30, 2008

On Thursday, I’ll be speaking at a girls school about the power of finding and using your voice.  Among the reasons I love engaging with students is that they can be the best teachers.  This isn’t feel-good rhetoric. It’s demonstrable truth.

Take the students at the Young Women’s Leadership Academy in Jamaica, Queens, a borough of New York City.  Last year, I spoke at their school in the same week that Don Imus made major news.  He’s the American radio talk show host who described a university women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos.”

African-American community “leaders,” along with feminist “spokeswomen,” bombarded TV channels with their counter-bombast.  It’s one thing to denounce Imus, who absolutely deserved the condemnation.  Quite another to announce that he made all young women of color feel like victims.  Upon hearing this claim for the umpteenth time, I took it to the girls in Jamaica, Queens.

Did they agree with those speaking on their behalf that they’ve been victimized?  Nope.  Quite the opposite. They asked a piercing question: Why would we let anybody, white or not, male or not, define who we are?  We’re not seeking his approval, so who’s to say that we’re victims because of something that he blurts?

To my ears, these students were implying (rather strongly) that they’re individuals, not property of the tribe. This is the essence of meaningful diversity.

Superficial diversity reduces all of us to external markers of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and the like.  Far more meaningful to elevate ourselves to different ways of thinking. It’s high time to popularize the distinction between diversity of thought, which recognizes individuality, and diversity of appearance, which glorifies only the group.

What I’m celebrating here is not individualism. An individualist would state, “I’m out for myself, and I don’t care if my society benefits.” Someone who honors individuality holds that “I am myself, and my society benefits from my uniqueness.” It’s a far more honest approach to the common good than the us-versus-them slogan of many equality activists.

Social movement luminaries often play the politics of representation — “you can’t comment if you don’t represent.” Well, here’s breaking news: They don’t represent either.  They can’t. We can each only represent ourselves, and that’s why unique, authentic voices matter.

Even when you’re young and relatively poor, as the students in Queens are, you can be smart enough to get it.  I can’t wait to glean insights from the girls with whom I interact on Thursday.

A final note: Two week ago, I blogged about Rebecca, a 14-year-old Catholic student.  She wrote admiringly about my willingness to challenge those who pretend to speak in the name of all Muslims.

Rebecca told me that she chose to write a paper about my work. I teasingly asked her what grade she got. Having not heard back, I figured she’s sparing my feelings.

This just in: “I got a 95% on that assignment (which, might I add, was around seven pages long because I found that the required 2-3 pages would definitely not suffice in conveying your views…”

Rebecca, can I convince you to enter the media training business upon graduation?