Most of my family is from the rural south. My family is the outlying as my parents lived in the south but moved to a mid-sized city and worked at professional jobs. Family reunions were always interesting though. You had a lot or farmers there, one cousin of mine (by marriage) who was a computer programmer, and me.

My cousin was black and I am white but the two of use would always get together and talk about computers and technology while our other male relatives discussed crop yield, seeds, pesticides and other ag issues I know nothing about.

Out relatives were not mean spirited to us our anything we just did not share common interests. They were happy talking about their area of passion and I was thrilled to have someone with shared interest I could visit with as well.

“1) What is the value of skin color diversity for its own sake (In schools? businesses? government?), and what is the evidence of its value?”

As a by-product I suppose it could be considered as evidence of a lack of discrimination. As a focus, however, it could be evidence of exactly the opposite. And I guess, how would you know? It seems to me to be illogical to call it a value or goal and then use effort to try to attain it because it doesn’t show or prove anything it’s supposed to prove. The only thing I can see is, as has been mentioned above, is that because several cultures and points of view have a chance to be represented, the end result could be a more enriched point of view – both collectively in the group, and individually in its members. But that really isn’t skin color in and of itself is it? Seems we have a conundrum here.

2) Given that legal barriers to entry have been dismantled, what “compelling interest” does the government have to continue sanctioning racial discrimination?

Cannot for the life me even come close to answering this. When I was 12 or so (about 1975), one of our family’s friends was over at the house. He was African-American (he called himself ‘black’ then) and said something I never forgot. He said, “I’m tired of being insulted by these programs. If I have to fight your father for his job with an unfair advantage, how am I supposed to reconcile that with my belief in justice and fairness? Does justice and fairness only count for me?” I was young enough to not get the full meaning of what was going on, but in my naivety (sp?), I just thought that most people believed as he did.

3) Do you have any diversity-related personal stories, positive or negative, you’d like to share?

Just one. I applied for city position just after getting out of the Navy. They selected people to test for the position based on filled out resumes. The test consisted of a written test and a practical test. The top five overall after the testing were offered interviews to fill two positions. I placed first in the written exam and 2nd in the practical exam and was not interviewed. I asked what the reason was. I was told that I did not score enough points. I wondered how that could possibly be and shared the results with the person I was asking. I was told that I did not have enough total points despite having the 2nd most, based on the test results. Without saying it exactly, “other factors” contributed to the point values assigned to the applicants and I was not in the top 5. Not bitter about it, but I do remember it.

I like your candor!

My Dad was always an egalitarian, and while applying for a part-time job in a southern city while he was going to college (after he retired from the Marines, so I was about 12, making this 1960 or so) he came accross the “Race” blank on a job application. The mere presence of the question enraged him, and he wrote “human”. He was written off as a “n-word lover”.

He did the same thing in 1990 when he had to fill out an application for a conference in his career field. The mere presence of the question enraged him, and he wrote “human”. That time he was written off as a racist.

He was being consistant. When I asked him about it, he said that if it was wrong in 1960, it was even MORE wrong in 1990, since we are now supposed to know better. No one would listen to him, and he wore the brand of “racist” for the rest of his life (which turned out to be only 2 more years). By that point in his life, he was at a stage where he didn’t care what anyone else thought.

For myself, I ran afoul of Affirmative Action about 15 years ago. When I was promoted into a management position here, two Black men who applied for the same job spent the next six months grousing because they figured I got in on Affirmative Action because I’m a woman. Mind you, it was OK for them to apply for the job with AA credits, but when they figured I did it, they were all but insubordinant until they found out that I had ten more years of experience than my nearest competitor. HOW they found out about that I don’t know, since I had made it plain that my background none of their business, since they were so hostile to me. I think they eventually put two and two together from conversations I had with friendlier employees. Point of fact, I didn’t use an AA credit because my resume is already a 600-pound gorilla and I don’t need to make extra claims. But they loved that AA… until they figured out that someone other than a Black might be able use it!!!

Things like this, when they come up, can make an egalitarian, as I was raised to be, feel particularly harassed. I can only imagine how white males must feel .

Two assumptions are inferred, but never stated, when one speaks of the virtues of cultural diversity. The stated real-world premise of diversity is the belief that a diverse sample enhances the overall ability of the group to respond positively to a given task. It is hoped that picking a person from this sub-group or that sub-group leads to varying inputs, therefore increasing the possibility of a larger range of viable outputs. Put in such terms, diversity appears to be logical.

The first assumption, and more benign, is any given sample taken from cross-cultural populations is going to foster sufficiently differing inputs. Once again, seems logical. However, the implication is much more nefarious; There is an extremely small sample, of just a few persons, that is to be indicative of an entire culture. In essence, it stereotypes cultures. The examples are far too easy for anyone to need a push in the right direction, but here are a few anyway: Sharpton representing LaShawn, David Dukes representing middle-class whites, Falwell representing evangelicals, Teddy Kennedy representing Catholic America. Put J. Jackson, Kennedy, Hillary, Franken, Boxer and Soros together and you have a culturally diverse group. Is that what is meant by diversity? It is absurd to think the diversity within a culture can be represented by just a few.

There is a flip side that is perhaps even worse. A mindset that sees potential because of a person’s culture, by default assumes another is incapable for the same reason. If it is imperative that an African-American be included based on culture, it becomes imperative to include a white person. Simply because an African-American becomes incapable of arriving at the same conclusion an Asian, Hispanic, or Anglo could have if he was included.

Now, the absolute worst assumption. Proponents of cultural diversity are establishing a cross-culture equivalency. Placing cultures beyond subjective labels should be a good idea. After all, cultures are neither bad nor good. They just exist. Who is to be the judge when placing labels that are far-reaching and abstract. Who are we to place labels on the indigenous tribes of Borneo? Logic, once again, seems to favor those who laud diversity.

If cultures cannot be judged, cannot be labeled, and cannot be questioned, then the concept of a cultural progression ceases to exist. That means not only are the misogynist cultures of the Mid-East given a free pass, but our own country’s pock-marked past is seen as equivalent: same but different. I doubt either of the Reverends, Jackson or Sharpton, would claim the situation of black Americans is equivalent to 1861. I doubt N.O.W. would claim women’s situation is equivalent to the 1900’s. I doubt Chinese immigrants would look back at 19th century mining and railroad towns with fond emotions, and say “Ahhhh, the good old days when we had jobs as mining canaries.” I doubt Japanese Americans look back at 1941 and smile at the “Jap” posters and internment. I doubt Native Americans look back….I doubt Mexicans look back…I doubt communist look back….on and on…

We have progressed! There is no equivalency! This is America, the Great Melting Pot. America is not the luke-warm pan where ingredients remain separated: preferring to exert an individual taste explosion instead of combining for a truly special delight. Leave such small minded thinking to the French, with their clearly marked partitions of society. We have always welcomed those who come to be Americans. Each one contributing a small slice from what they knew before. Celebrate your St. Patty’s Day, your Highland games, your Oktoberfest, and your Cinco de Mayo. But, when that day is done, pack up your kilt, your whiskey and green tie, your beer stein, and your sombrero. This is how America has celebrated cultural diversity for 200 years!

In practice, however, the black students who mostly populate higher education seem to come from backgrounds that frankly aren’t radically different from those of their economic peers of other races. (I work in higher education, directly serving the student population.) They’ve all grown up under the same over-arching media culture, most of them have gone to the same big public (and increasingly, private) schools, and nowadays they even share the same pop culture references. So where is the diversity, really?

Honestly, I try hard to judge people on their merits and to not act like some sort of condenscending memsahib (which would be ridiculous, seeing as how I’m the granddaughter of Irish peasants). That’s why so many PC things makes me crazy, because they’re just condescending.

But still, if I were in a hiring position and faced with two candidates who had the same qualifications and professional attitude, but one was white and one was black… all other things being equal, I would lean heavily towards hiring the black person. I’m no bleeding heart by any measure, but I think it strengthens our society to have people of different races working side by side every day. It just normalizes things.

Incidentally, I love this blog, and read it as often as possible. I’ve only had time to skim this particular article right now, but I’ll be back later: my interest is definitely piqued. Keep up the good work, La Shawn.

These questions fit well with the anti-egalitarian sub-theme of our blog here.

Odd part is that there are very very few pure blooded Hawaiians left in the world, so all the Hawaiians I grew up with and around looked hapa, or Japanese, or Chinese, or Caucasian, or Filipino, or Hawaiian and so on. So, with the exception of blacks, the shock wasn’t about skin color, but about common culture, attitude and values.

Kalroy

1. I live in a predominately white part of the country. The people I end up hanging out with are those people who have similar interests and ideals as what I have. I don’t hang out with other white folks with whom I don’t have interests and ideals in common. Even among non-diverse minority populations, I’m guessing people still seek out those with whom they share interests and ideals.

Diversity doesn’t mean much to me. I think it’s mostly nonsense. I doubt that diversity has any intrinsic value. I think for a lot of liberal white folks, trumpeting diversity makes them feel superior and insulates them from the fear of being accused of racism.

2. I think part of the diversity movement is driven by the desire to advance “nonjudgmentalism” and the acceptance of “alternative lifestyles.” In other words, advancing “diversity” is a way of sort of bootstrapping this GLBT/alternative lifestyle agenda into the mainstream by tieing it to notions of racial equality and acceptance.

3. I understand where you’re coming from on feeling less comfortable when you’re the only black person in a crowd of white people, but if I was ever in a group with you, we’d probably talk and laugh like old friends. I’d do my level best to make sure you felt comfortable.

There’s a reason, though, why you find yourself in groups of white people. The people who share your conservative ideals and interests are often white. We need to recruit more black people to be social conservatives. How about it Tiffany? Shade? Come be conservatives and hang out with La Shawn and me. How about that? I’d be the lone white guy in the group. Now, that’s a diversity that I could embrace.

Cheers
Clifton