Doing the Diversity Dance and missing the beat

 Doing the Diversity Dance -and missing the Beat

Rodney D. Coates///

Often the most problematical persons to deal with, specifically with regards to issues of diversity, are the "enlightened ones". For it is these who try real hard to deal with and accommodate those who are typically classified as a minority. The problem is that they often harbor many of the very behaviors that they are trying so hard to avoid and curtail. I have found that it is these "enlightened ones" that are the most difficult to deal with, for in all honesty they are "trying" to do the right thing, but all too often they create blinders to their own 'issues'. Here are a set of things that I would urge us all to consider:

 Ever notice that the women that you associate with are often

     a) the last to leave the office

     b) carry several bags 

     c) working even on weekends and holidays

     d) constantly on more service committees

     e) your go-to person when you need a voice of diversity

      f) the one you point to to demonstrate that you (your company) indeed have(has) accomplished diversity mission

And do you find that you/your company/institution: 

     g) confuse diversity/inclusion with multiculturalism/sensitivity

     h) believe in equality rather than equity

The real problem is that often we rely upon feeling good, reducing diversity tension, and the symptomatic relief of racial/gender/other stress and fail to see the underlying, often covert manifestations of racial, gendered and other forms of discriminatory systems. OK, let's all take a break, and congratulate our collective selves for solving the overt and highly offensive forms of gendered, racial, and classed based discrimination. For the record, we have gone to the mountain top, and have effectively slain the pernicious discriminatory systems that have held sway for neigh on 400 years. But, wait, while we have indeed slain the beasts, its children are yet with us. Who are the children of this beast you ask -the products of racialized, gendered, homophobic, and patriarchal structures which assure white males of their place, their identity as "the norm" and their control over the systems of dominance? Now I hear the chorus shout out "Wait a cotton pickin' minute!" "We have overcome" and she, them, they "have come a long ways baby". Yes, they, we have, but there is a longer way to go. Let's go through the numbers:

a) The last to leave the office...Working hard to overcome, demonstrate that we, they have truly arrived, often the recently/generational "new kid on the block" continually feels the pressure to demonstrate that they are competent, that they are not an "affirmative action baby" that they do deserve to be at the table. But, why is it that these new kids need to demonstrate their competencies, when it is assumed that the "white male" is competent until proven otherwise. Think of this legally, for the outsider, they must prove that they belong (as in presumed illegal immigrants) that they are competent to be at the table, and that they are not just a token representative of the diversity "flavor of the week". Alternatively, think of the opposite situation where, when the racial/gendered/ability elite (typically white male) must, alternatively be demonstrated to be incompetent. The difference is simple -the latter is given the benefit of the doubt, while the former must constantly live with the doubt of others.

b) Carry several bags -No it is not a gender thing, and no women do not feel insecure unless they carry multiple bags, often filled to capacity with work, more work, and yet more work. Look around you, as you go about your day. Who is it that is carrying all these bags? Why is it that most males go light, one bag typically and that is small in comparison to the multiple ones carried by their female counterpart? And by the way, the more categories that the female occupy (sexual, racial, ethnic, age, class identities) the more bags she struggles with. This is associated with not only the psychic baggage she lugs around, but also the very real occupational bags she is required to lug so that she can demonstrate her competencies, and right to occupy these hallowed halls of white, male privilege. And heaven forbid, that she is also part of the white, male power structure for indeed "her work is never done".

c) So she works constantly on both the weekends and often through major holidays, striving to demonstrate that she actually does belong. She avoids or delays marriage, child birth, or other complicated domestic relationships as she puts the "job" first. For surely, she must do these things if she wants to avoid the "mommy" trap, the "pink ceiling" or the other pit-falls that guarantee that she will never be consigned to being "merely" the female face of diversity and that she is carrying her load. (Which also includes being the emotional security blanket, mommy to all the males on the job? Shouldering their insecurities, muddling through their psychic trauma of being male, white in an ever increasingly diverse universe.)

d) Thus means that she/they (those diverse others) are constantly doing more service, more things that do not directly relate to the actual job, but more of the professional "house work" of the corporate/institutional setting. It is this person that we often turn to to sit and represent us on the various diversity initiatives, our go-to person to challenge with our most challenging tasks (because we do not want to be accused of cuddling or pampering our newly enfranchised colleague, would not want it to be said that they are not carrying their own weight.) So all the social functions they must be present, particularly those which demonstrate that we understand and value that "they" are with us, and our collective public face is indeed diverse -hence their presence is most missed when our "diversity" call to duty is sounded. I mean, what would it look like if we are doing our "diversity dance" and our token, ahem, our valued, diverse colleague/faculty/partner is not there? You see, the diversity dance is what we do, when we want to demonstrate that we are diverse.  

e) And yes, when and if we are ever challenged with issues of diversity...this is our "go to person whose voice" demonstrates that we are indeed diverse. Hence, they are often tasked to be the official voice of diversity for the institution, human service representative, public relations expert on ....diversity. They and their presence assert, legitimate, and sanction our efforts at diversity. They by definition in their presence and pronouncements declare that we are indeed diverse.

f) What this all means is that we often confuse real diversity and inclusion with multiculturalism and being sensitive. Much like the hubby who occasionally helps the "little woman" with her work by washing the dishes or running the vacuum cleaner. Of course, when he puts down the toilet seat he expects the heavens to open, as she showers him with well earned praise for "helping her out". Damn, did not he help dirty the dishes and was it not his muddy shoes that tracked mud on the carpet, but alas, he has indeed "helped" and should get his halo. Calling such domestic task, services (like editing -cause women are better at writing), organizing (cause women by nature can multitask better than males), facilitating (cause males are more conflict prone), and nurturing (cause women are just made that way) -women's work only aggravates and sentimentalizes women as women.    

g) And our last category -believing in equality rather than equity is where a-f leads us. You see, equality is never the goal of diversity, but it is strangely of multiculturalism. For in equality, we assure that we are treating the racial, gendered and other 'other' equal to white males. This has multiple problems. First of all it means that we norm on 'white males'. Their experiences become the measure by which we judge the adequacy, competency, and reality of all others. This means in essence that the more those that are considered the 'others' can accommodate, approximate, and demonstrate their affinity to white, male standards the more they are valued in institutional/corporate culture. Further, any behaviors, attitudes, or representations of the other that highlight their cultural, gendered, disabled "otherness”. And no, "they" do not get it, it is not about being equal, or the same as white males, it is about being equitable to them. Equity, you see suggests that we treat people differently based upon those differences. It recognizes that people are different, and that these differences are what make them the special persons that they are. They cannot just check their cultural, gendered, disabilities at the door when they show up to work. And no, it is not about wearing their difference, or being asked to frequently do the diversity dance (during women's history, black history, Hispanic history, disability history, Holocaust awareness, Ramadan, aging history, etc..etc). And it is not about sheltering and frequently allowing white, males to vent about their guilt at being white and males. No, it is about acceptance and understanding and being -different.

More later...