The Need for Diversity

I’ve had a trifecta of race related issues meet me in the eyes in the last week and feel the call to address the need for diversity...here, there, everywhere. Although I am speaking from an American perspective, diversity on the global level is something that can not be swept under the proverbial rug. Much like global warming; some saw it then, some are seeing the light now, some have yet to join the party, but all of us will suffer the consequences if the issue is not addressed and a solution actively pursued.

Act I - College admissions in and out of the United States offer some surprising details. “Our” public universities here in CA, particularly the UC schools, continue to outlaw the same Affirmative Action initially designed to help campuses resemble the population a bit better. It’s now touted as reverse discrimination, though when it was in full effect, my being 1 of 500 black students of 18,000 at UCSB in an era of Affirmative Action speaks otherwise. Our schools are, as an AVID Weekly article expresses, are “becoming a mutant version of the Hunger Games,” with parents and counselors pushing students into one more varsity sport, one more musical competition and one more AP class, no matter how stressed, overworked and exasperated a student might be. That same article addresses a cheaper, faster and more diverse education at European universities where we are considered exotic, international scholars. Hmmm, a valuing of diversity. I saw this same article just after seeing a documentary on black men at UCLA and that the majority of black men there are athletes that will only graduate in dismal numbers. Yet, most believe nothing is needed to help level the playing field of schools with predominantly black and/or low income students from schools offering fewer AP classes and coming from communities where parents can not afford private tutors to help with the rigor of the coursework of their counterparts.

Part 2 - My personal journey of transitioning from “strait is great,” relaxed hairstyles to something that can’t decide if it wants to be an afro, twists and any combination of the many textures my God planted on my head, leads me to the second part of my diversity trifecta. The fact that I have to wonder how I will be received and perceived at my place of employment that includes over 50 staff members, none of which are black, and 1300 students of mostly not black heritage, makes me wonder why white folks don't have to go through this; but, it’s ok for me. On inaugural natural hair day, I did what I always do and blaze my trail nervously with a fake-ish smile planted on my face to a variety of positive comments, and puzzled, but not disapproving stares, and into a classroom only to hear, from a child of the white male persuasion, “What happened to your hair?” As I choked down the rising bile and fought the tear that I dared to make an appearance, I steered the child to my white, female partner and asked her to deal with it. While she nailed him for never commenting on a woman’s “fill in the blank,” I don’t think she could really understand the depths of this comment. It’s not just about being a woman, I’m not just a woman; but I’m a black woman, black not being more important than woman, and vice versa. My choices in the situation are to a) Ignore which many would say do and tell me I’m overreacting and that it’s just a kid, or b) give this little guy and his classmates a Black Studies 101 mini-lesson on white male privilege in America and that this was an example of how he is raised in a society that tells him that not only is it ok to make value judgements on those who are different from him, but to verbalize them, or c) address the issue of the power of words and how you don’t know “where” the person is coming from and how what you say may affect them. Also, that I should be able to come to work, and as long as I look neat and professional, have the right to work in a place where I should be free of ridicule. Also, that he should consider how each of my days is spent being the only one like me in a group of over 1300 people: the only one in class, the only one in school. Walk a mile in my moccasins and tell me it’s not something you keep subconsciously, at best, and have to think twice about when going into a new environment...and this is in “liberal” SoCal. You can decide what I did.

Episode III - After stewing, brewing and re-evaluating these occurrences, I saw a Facebook post about the need to get rid of political correctness and the trifecta was complete. The beautifully decorated post was about how America has stopped having dialogue because everyone is afraid they will offend someone else. Really? When I live in a country where I am underrepresented in environments generally deemed desirable, when I have to read about yet another case of adults in black face, Klan rallies, Treyvon Martin's, reverse discrimination and walk through a sea of stares because my hair is bigger than yours, I am shouting to the mountaintops that THE NEED FOR DIVERSITY IS REAL!

I have often been the only one; always having to explain my hair, my family’s Christmas Eve Gumbo, that yes, black people get sunburned, love to hike and the go to the beach. Explain that not all black people got into UCSB in 1989 because they were, “Lucky because I was black, female and smart,” (yes someone said that was why I got in), but the truth is, I got into UCSB in spite of being black and female and yes, I'm hella smart!

The answer, I don’t have one. Will I stop explaining how my hair is straight one day and curly the next, no. Will I quit addressing and educating about issues regarding race, no. Will I stop being the representative black voice for many well meaning whites who expect me to have all the answers, no.

And finally, am I an angry black woman, or “mad” black woman as Tyler Perry has coined it, no. I’m just one heart, one voice, one soul and one spirit fighting for my kids and grandkids not to experience being “the only one,” at least during sometime in their lifetimes. Until then, I sport my diversity as loud and proud as I can...At least in my little corner of this floating marble.