Aims of Diversity and Me

Course Reflection

This has been one of the few courses I have taken that has changed me as a person.  I have learned that diversity isn't just the three black students in my room and the little boy from India.  There is so much more to it.  Complicated, not-going-to-be-fixed-after-one-discussion, types of issues. 

I have learned that diversity is race,sex, gender, class, and disability.  I have also learned that each one of those individual topics vary within themselves.  Sex is not just man and woman, it also includes intersex people.  Whether someone is a  black person is not easy to determine.  There are light colored and dark colored black people.  More importantly, it is what one thinks they are that really matters.  A white presenting person can consider themselves black.  We cannot assume anything.

Reading about experiences people have had regarding diversity issues changed my thinking. Taking a walk in someone else's shoes, even if it was just on paper, really affected me.  Reading about the deaf couple who were desperately hoping for a deaf child baffled me at first.  But hearing their side of the story was incredible.  They loved they community of Deaf persons.  They wanted the baby they loved to feel a part of this group,

Trying to understand why we continue to allow differences took a lot out of me emotionally.  I still have a very hard time understanding how, in 2014, we can allow the Native American population to live in the poverty and alcoholism they do.  Not when, with a change in a few policies, they could change their future. We should all be outraged.  We certainly would be if we were being taken advantage of. 

Doing the two Implicit Association Tests from the Harvard website showed me that I am not as free thinking as I would love to think I am.  While I had little to no automatic preference between straight people and gay people, I had a strong automatic preference for European Americans compared to African Americans.  I have to continue to work.

I was so encouraged to hear of some people who were trying to bridge the differences in our society.  Reading about Lily Ledbetter and William Upski Wimsatt, gave me hope.  More people, ourselves included need to step up and be a part of the change we want.

Course objectives

#1 Gain knowledge of the theories and research related to the historical, political, ethical, and legal foundations of social diversity across national and cultural settings.

The knowledge I have gained through the readings and framework essays in The Meaning of Difference: American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexual Orientation, and Disability has really changed my thoughts and ideas about many, many things.  I honestly thought of diversity as people of color and those who came from other countries.  That was it!  I am thankful for the opportunity to read about, think about, and discuss with my family, all the different issues that are diversity.  I am a changed person.

#2 Acquire strategies for using appropriate methods of inquiry to generate original findings regarding the endeavors to promote diversity.

I have a whole new way of listening to radio interviews, watching news broadcasts, and reading articles in newspapers and magazines.  I am using a "close reading" technique to get to what is really being said.  I am consciously stopping to think what I am feeling or thinking, as a reaction to the information and why.  


#3 Develop an informed perspective about the practice of diversity in a pluralistic & democratic society and the capacity to convey that perspective to others in a scholarly manner.

I now have an informed perspective about diversity in our society.  It is not the fair and just perspective I had prior to taking this course.  I am not Miss Negative, but I am no longer willing to take the word of someone because they look trustworthy.  I want to check things out for myself.  One of the parts I have enjoyed most about this class is how after each reading I would march off to the kitchen to talk to my husband and kids about what I have read.  We have had many lively family discussions relating to issues I tell them about.  I am a better citizen because of it, and I think I am helping my children see a different side to our society.

#4 Construct a vision of themselves as advocates for diversity with a plan for professional action.

  My plan is . . . .
- to create a supportive and inclusive classroom
- to continue to read scholarly pieces on diversity issues
- to speak with my children and students about diversity issues
- to teach about important member of society including minorities and disabled persons and their 
   accomplishments in making the world a better place
- to become more politically involved
- to stand up and speak out

Guiding question:  What are the aims of diversity?
The aims of diversity are to create environments where everybody feels respected and understood. Environments where everybody's opinions and thoughts are truly listened to and considered.  To provide education to employees, students and citizens on diversity issues.  To educate citizens, employees and students about how many of our feelings and ideas have been taught to us.  The aim of diversity is to work toward a world in which everybody is treated as if they are somebody.

Uncle Sam Knows Best

Retell

Land Rich, Dirt Poor:  Challenges to Asset Building in Native America
Meizhu Lui, Barbara J. Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Rose M. Brewer, Rebecca Adamson


These authors explain how the United States Government, throughout its history, has mishandled the Native American's land and money even though they are supposed to be acting in the best interest of the Natives. 

A quote from the first section of this reading explains that things have not changed.  "Even in the last twenty years, as Native people have found new ways to create wealth, Congress has legislated new methods of exerting control that undermine Native sovereignty an take money out of the Native, wealth pot.  Although the original intention of the trust responsibility was to manage tribal resources for the best interest of the tribes, federal appropriation of Native wealth and federal mismanagement has led to lost resources and stolen funds."  (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 429)

There is a second way in which the U.S. government has hurt the Natives.  They have created laws and policies that force Natives to do things they don't want to do.  For example, taking their children and putting them into white schools so they could become more civilized.  Forcing the Natives to own private lands instead of tribes owning them together.  Basically, outsiders have been destroying the Native America culture since they arrived in the1400's.

As a result of the interference of the government, Native Americans live in poverty.

The authors give an account as to what has happened the Natives through each period of American history.

I believe the main idea of this piece is the fact that the Natives are held under different rules as everyone else.  The authors are asking why.  Shouldn't they be able to do what they want with their land?  Shouldn't they be able to prosper and grow their culture and community?  If I owned land like they do, I would have a lot to show for it.  Money would be coming in every day.  They are not allowed to do with their land what is best for them.  Uncle Sam apparently knows best.


Recall/React
Why are they still treated differently? Why are they still treated like unintelligent savages?  "Indeed, why are Native Americans defined as wards, given that wards are usually children or mentally incompetent adults? (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 440)  These are things I wonder as well.  This is 2014 not the 1800s.  We the people know this is wrong.  Why aren't more people standing up for them?  Why do we pretend they no longer exist?


Rethink

I have discovered that our own government uses public policy to shape differences in order to benefit those in power.  Native Americans are held back by laws and policies our politicians have passed to keep them from moving forward.  They are being held back form opportunities and rights the rest of Americans are given.  The framework essay of this section gave a great visual that I think I will use when thinking of Native Americans from now on.  This visual is of a birdcage and comes from Marilyn Frye in her discussions about oppression.  "Using the metaphor of a birdcage, she argues that oppression cannot be understood by looking at only one obstacle or "wire"; one must consider the set of wires that together form the cage." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 332)

I need to be more active in our political system.  I cannot sit back and believe the men and women in Washington or even Montpelier, are going to do the right thing or act in the best interest of the people of the United States.

Popular Culture

Retell
 Framing Class:  Media Representations of Wealth and Poverty in America
Diana Kendall

Diana Kendall's piece got my blood boiling like no other reading in this book did. She speaks to the fact that the media literally shows us rich people and how they live constantly.  We see them on TV, we see them on magazine covers as we try to buy food, we see and hear them on talk shows.  We know where they live, what they drive, where they go on vacation, which other rich person they are marrying this time, what amazing party they went to and the fabulous free products they got just for showing up.

The problem is that the majority of us, the working class, see all this and feel like failures in our own lives.  So, we buy things these famous people have to feel like we belong in the same group as them.  Adults aren't the only group feeling the pressure to belong.  Children are buying into the need to have what the wealthy have too.  "More children [in the United States] than anywhere else believe that their clothes and brands describe who they are and define their social status.  American kids display more brand affinity than their counterparts anywhere else in the world; indeed, experts describe them as increasingly 'bonded to brands.'" (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 452)  Advertisers spend millions of dollars making sure to keep the pressure of, belonging by having the right things, on.


React/Recall

First of all, I have never seen the show The Simple Life (which must have been on years ago), but I am pretty upset about it.  How can two of the richest kids in America go around getting help, kindness and resources from those who have little or nothing?  Being from a family who tries to help others as much as possible and who also has limited resources, this really pisses me off.  Do these girls find poor people a joke?  They obviously do or they wouldn't have ever agreed to do the show. 

If the television CEOs need something to do with their money, they should contact William Wimsatt and get involved in one of his groups.  He is a kid with money trying to do something good for the world through social change.

 Maybe they could start a show in which people get together to change perceptions of the poorer Americans.  They could stop bombarding us with shows about how awesome it is to have a lot of money and how fun it is to waste it when we have literally starving children in our communities.  How about a show building and planting gardens in poorer communities and hiring real people to take care of it.  They could show how to get it done, and how it benefits us all.

 
Rethink

I believe that we need to teach our children how to watch TV, "read" covers of magazines and really listen to interviews.  We need to make sure they understand the message that is being presented and who is delivering the message.  Not just the actors and actresses, but the CEO's of news organizations and magazines.  Children need to learn how to take a closer look at what is being offered by the media.

I am reading a book right now by Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts called Falling in Love with Close Reading.  It talks about close reading as not simply the practice of re-reading in order to understand the text.  Close reading is actually re-reading to find patterns in the message and then using the patterns to develop a new understanding.  I am so excited to teach this to my class.  I am even more excited  that I can use it to teach critical thinking as well. 

In order to understand what the real message of a TV show or commercial is, we need to have critical thinkers.  I am going to start by using songs to teach close reading.  I think I will try out other things like magazine covers and TV shows as well.

Black and White

Retell

Blink in Black and White
Malcolm Gladwell

This fascinating article talks about the IAT or Implicit Association Test.  This test looks at our unconscious associations and how they impact our beliefs.  Malcolm Gladwell brings us through several IAT type activities to show us how we quickly make connections between pairs of words.  Doing these quick quizzes really shows how, despite our conscious decisions to think of everyone on equal terms, unconsciously we do not.  It is the unconscious associations that the IAT measures to the millisecond.
In discussing the IAT, Gladwell explains, "It measures our second level of attitude, our racial attitude on an unconscious level- the immediate, automatic associations that tumble out before we've even had time to think.  We don't deliberately choose our unconscious  attitudes.  And . . . we may not even be aware of them.  The giant computer that is our unconscious silently crunches all the data it can from the experiences we've had, the people we've met, the lessons we've learned the books we've read, the movies we've seen, and so on , and it forms an opinion.  This what is coming out in the IAT."  (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 354)

His main idea is that when it comes to making important decisions, we aren't making them with the completely pure and rational thoughts we think we are.


Between Barack and a Hard Place
Tim Wise

Tim Wise writes about President Obama's victory in the 2008 election and analyzes what it says about racism in America. 

This piece begins with three positive outcomes of the Obama's victory.  First, it shows that racism can be eliminated in America.  Secondly, there was a large amount of cross-racial collaboration that occurred in the campaign.  It was collaboration "rarely seen in American politics. or history."  (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 364)  Thirdly, that a person of color can, over time, prove his intelligence, qualifications, and capabilities to white people.

Tim Wise's main idea, is that racism is far from over in America.  We cannot pretend it is just because we have a Black president.  America has a long way to go as far a racism is considered.  He thinks that comments such as the ones columnist Richard Cohen of the Washington Post said, are far-fetched and not helpful in our task to eliminate racism.  Cohen, on the morning of President Obama's election, wrote "It is not just that he (Obama) is post-racial; so is the nation he is generationally primed to lead."  and " We have overcome." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 366)

Examples are given of how, even in the South during the 1890's, newspapers reported how well whites and blacks got along.  There doesn't seem to be a time in American history when whites admitted people of color were not treated fairly.

Wise ends saying, "That we were wrong in every generation prior to the current one in holding such a rosy and optimistic view apparently gives most whites little pause.  And so we continue to reject claims of racism as so much whining, as "playing the race card" or some such thing, never wondering, even for a second, how a bunch who have proven so utterly inept at discerning the truth for hundreds of years can at long last be trusted to accurately intuit other people's reality . . . ."  (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 369)



Recall/React

I went online to take the IAT test on the website www.implicit.harvard.edu.  I took two tests.  The first was on race.  It showed that I had a strong automatic preference for European Americans compared to African Americans.  My outcome was the same as 27% of the participants. I am honestly shocked by this.  As I was taking the test.  I thought I was doing really well and was really proud of how open my thinking was.  Boy was I wrong.  I guess it proves that my unconscious plays a much bigger role in my thinking than I had hoped.

The second test I took was the sexuality test.  My results showed that I had little to no automatic preference between straight people and gay people.  I was the same as 17% of the participants of this test.  I must say, I was surprised by this one as well.  I was nervous taking this test because I wasn't at all sure where I would fall.  I don't know many gay people.  I have a cousin that is gay and a student teacher I had was gay.  I actually felt guilty the whole time I was taking the test.  I was thinking I might not do well on it and what would that make me? 

The good news is, we have our conscious thoughts to help us make decisions we know to be right even if our unconscious thoughts would have us do otherwise.



Rethink
These articles have made me aware that it is not only my conscious beliefs and wishes that determine my actions, my unconscious thoughts have a very big say.  I need to be cognizant of this fact whenever I am making decisions and having reactions.  I need to ask myself, what, in my past, have I learned or heard or saw, that is forming my decision.  I also have learned that I need to make sure that I keep fighting and standing up for every person.  Just because I would love to think that issues like racism are coming to an end, they really aren't.  We can be getting closer to an end, but we aren't there.

Changes From Unexpected Places

Retell

In Defense of Rich Kids
William Upski Wimsatt


William Upski Wimsatt is a rich kid.  He admits it.  He can spend money without worry because he knows he will be inheriting more later on.  He asks us though, to look a little closer at who he is and what he does.  His main idea is that what he does with his money is what he should be judged on.  He gives away between 20-50 percent of his income to charities every year.  He wants us to compare that with the 2 percent others give regardless of their wealth.

Wimsatt says he gives away money to small charities.  Small charities with great potential to grow.  To grow awareness and jobs.  He loves the world, being part of it, and most of all "Because I get more joy out of making things better for everyone than I get out of making things materially better for myself." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 508-509)

There is a group he calls the "Cool Rich Kids Movement".  It has 100 people like himself who are actually talking about the importance of giving money, not to big churches and colleges, but to grassroots groups.  He hopes to increase it to 50,000 people.

Some of the groups he is supporting or helping set up is called the Self-Education Foundation.  This foundation will "tap successful people who either didn't like school or who dropped out to fund self-education resource centers which will support poor kids to take learning into their own hands." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 510)

Winsatt wants us to help spread the idea to those with wealth.  The idea is to have people with money give to groups who want social change.


Uprooting Racism:  How White People Can Work for Racial Justice
Paul Kivel

Paul Kivel starts off thanking people of color for getting angry with discrimination.  "That person is pointing out something wrong, something that contradicts the ideals of equality set forth in our Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.  That person is bringing our attention to a problem that needs solving, a wrong that needs righting."  (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 512)

When a person gets angry we have been taught that something is wrong and we should back away.  It is how we have been taught.  Kivel says we need to stop seeing anger as a sign of failure.  We need to see it as an opportunity.  An opportunity to see the injustice of racism a person of color lives with everyday.

Kivel explains how white people can strong allies to their colored friends.  He lists qualities that a people of color want from white allies.  Respect, Find out about us, Don't take over, Stand by my side, Interrupt jokes and comments are a few.  He took this list to create some guidelines.

His main idea is that every person should be free to live and work without harassment or discrimination.  White people can help people of color by being a strong ally.


Recall/React

My reaction here is WHOA!  I guess I have been thinking very negatively of rich people.  I guess I believed that rich people have the money, want more of it, and have the ability to get it.  It is so nice to read about William Wimsatt.  I didn't find him to be out of line wanted us to see him differently.  It is what we have been learning about.  If we want equality for all, than we should mean all.  It is encouraging to know that there are people with means working for the poor and underprivileged.  My heart feels lighter.
My reaction for the second reading is that Paul Kivel is right.  White people do need to stand up for people of color.  We can't stand by thinking how awful it must be for them and how sad and humiliated they must feel.  We need to do something.  Even something as simple as saying "That is not funny" can do a lot to change the way people are treated.

Rethink

What I have learned is that every person, from every walk of life has an important part to play in our world.  We have to understand race, class and gender, we have to consider the experiences of all people, and we need to figure out a way to have every person live with the respect and caring they deserve.  By even discriminating against one group (i.e. rich people) we have stopped moving toward the goal.

Becoming Part of the Solution

Retell

Influencing Public Policy
Jeanine C. Cogan

 What Can We Do?  Becoming Part of the Solution
Allan G. Johnson

Allan Johnson starts his piece off with the following statement.  "The challenge we face is go change patterns of exclusion, rejection, privilege, harassment, discrimination, and violence that are everywhere in this society and have existed for hundreds (or, in the case of gender, thousands) of years.  We have to begin by thinking about the trouble and the challenge in new and more productive ways..." ((Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 502)

Johnson speaks about two myths of why we don't fight for change.
Myth #1-  "It's always been this way, and it always will"
Johnson says it won't always be this way.  History shows us that the only thing we can count on is change.  I love his description of fluid societies.  "A society isn't some hulking thing that sits there forever as it is.  Because a system happens only as people participate in it, it can't help being a dynamic process of creation and re-creation from one moment to the next." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 503)
Myth #2- Gandhi's paradox and the myth of no effect
This myths reminds us that we can't decide to change the world and have a need to see the change.  It isn't going to happen that fast.  We can however, change it a little bit at a time.  We can do this because we don't get overwhelmed and discouraged with the need to see a final result.  Johnson talks about Gandhi one saying something like this ". . .nothing we do as individuals matters, but that it's vitally important to do it anyway." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 504)  He also gives an powerful image to show his point.  "Imagine, for example, that social systems are trees and we are the leaves.  No individual leaf on the tree matters; whether it lives or dies has no effect on much of anything.  But collectively, the leaves are essential to the whole tree because they photosynthesize the sugar that feeds it.  Without leaves, the tree dies." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 504)

React/Recall
Not choosing the path of least resistance came up as the main idea of becoming part of the solution.  It reminds me of how, by not saying anything, we are agreeing with the way things are. It takes courage to speak out, and people might be uncomfortable and angry with you, but it shows you aren't satisfied and that there is another way.

I remember watching the video of my sister's wedding.  The videographer chose to interview people at the reception.  Guests were given the opportunity to say something about marriage, or really anything they wanted to say to my sister and her new husband.  Three of my father's friends started talking.  Two of them were saying some things about the "little lady" and other inappropriate things.  They laughed and were acting silly.  The third man spoke last.  He starting talking very seriously about cherishing each other, not taking each other for granted, etc.  The other two men immediately stood up straight, changed the expression on their faces and looked ashamed.  They had only been acting like many of the guests did.  Making fun of marriage and how Scott would need to keep Tiffiny in her place.  This man obviously didn't agree.  With his words, he showed the other men what he felt was important.  He didn't care what they thought of him.  In a few minutes, he changed the world just a little.  He made two men stop and think about their words and actions.


Rethink
I need to be part of the change.  I need to stop taking the path of least resistance.  I need to stop being mad at how our society does things and make an effort to change things.  There are millions of Americans who think like I do.  They aren't happy with the status quo but they do nothing to change it. Allan Johnson says it loud and clear "Their silence and invisibility allow the trouble to continue.  Removing what silences them and stands in their way can tap an enormous potential of energy for change. . . . " (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 502)  He is talking about me and friends I talk about these issues with.  I need to remove what is silencing me so I can speak out for myself and others.

For the Greater Good

Retell

Lily's Big Day
Gail Collins

Gail Collins piece tells of women who went up against big businesses, unions and laws to start to change the way women are treated and paid in the work places.  These women dealt with long hard fights that were trying and tiring for themselves and their families. 

Lily Ledbetter worked in a tire factory as a plant supervisor.  As she was getting close to her retirement, someone showed her how much more money men doing the same job were making.  She went to court to fight.  She lost in a 5-4 decision in the Supreme Court.  However, in fighting for what is right, Gail Collins says, "She's now part of a long line of working women who went to court and changed a little bit of the world in fights that often brought them minimal personal benefit." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 489)

Collins briefly discusses other women's journey to equality with men.  Eulalie Cooper, a flight attendant who was fired for being married. Patricia Lorance, a factory worker who found out the union and her employer " . . . secretly agreed to new seniority rules that discriminated against the women who had been promoted in the post-Civil Rights Act era of the 1970s." (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 489) And, Lorena Weeks, who helped change the way companies kept women out of high paying jobs by saying they weren't qualified like men were.

These women worked hard to change the world for other women.  They worked for the greater good.

The Other Movement That Rosa Parks Inspired: By Sitting Down, She Made Room for the Disabled
Charles Wilson

Charles Wilson's piece talks about how Rosa Park's 1955 refusal to move for a white man, empowered the disabled community to work together to change the public transit system once again.

In 1984, the city of Chicago decided not to equip the 363 new buses they purchased with wheelchair lifts.  About twelve wheelchair bound women and men, moved their chairs in front of a bus and didn't move. This same thing was happening all across America.  However, even after the buses were equipped with lifts, the lifts were not maintained. 

There are disabled people in America today, who sit outside in freezing temperatures waiting for a bus with working lifts to come by.  These Americans are being fired from jobs because they aren't getting there on time, they are missing medical appointments, they are being left out of outings with friends because they don't always make it.

"None of this should be happening in America.  "Rosa Parks could get on the bus to protest," says Roger McCarville, a veteran in Detroit who once chained himself to a bus.  "We still can't get on the bus."  A true tribute to Parks would be to ensure that every American can. (Rosenblum and Travis, 2012, p. 492)

Recall/React

My reaction to these pieces was a sadness mixed with pride.  It is unbelievable to me, that in America at this time, we could possibly have people waiting for a bus in any type of weather for hours.  I understand that money is tight.  But let find a way to accommodate all of our citizens.  Maybe instead of buying 400 new unequipped buses, 300 equipped buses could be purchased.  As for not fixing the lifts, I am sure there are mechanics looking for jobs that could be hired to do maintenance.  I find in sad that in a time when big companies are getting richer and richer, and they are hiring lawyers to "legally" get out of paying taxes, we have these problems.  America needs to find its heart and morality.

I am proud to be a woman.  I am more proud when I read of strong women likes those in Gail Collin's piece.  It reminds me that I need to introduce more of these everyday heroes to my classes.  I need to show that one person, standing up for what is right, can make a huge difference in our world.

Rethink

My rethinking here is how I allow little inequalities to go all the time.  I do it, I believe, because I was taught to never make waves.  I needed to be a good girl and do things the right way.  Well, that is not the way it should be.  I should have been encouraged to stand up for my rights as well as the rights of others.  I am so very thankful for people like Rosa Parks and Lily Ledbetter.  My life is better because of them.  My task is to find out what I can do to make the lives of future girls and women better.