Diversity, inclusion, respect, tolerance, acceptance, people of color, minority, majority, under-represented groups, communities of color. What does it all mean?
I am deeply conflicted with Martin Luther King Jr. Day just two days away. Our county is observing Dr. King’s birthday with marches, speakers, dancing and singing to celebrate the life of one of my heroes.
In Snohomish County there are people who say we have made great progress in the world of diversity and differences. I say, great progress in whose world? Have we made great progress in the world of business, have we made great progress in education, have we made great progress in the board rooms and on committees who make the majority of decisions for all of us? Have we made great progress with our elected officials who all claim it will be different when they get elected?
So what do our leaders and elected officials do? They pander to whoever their audience is at the time. And we clap and jump for joy because they are obviously committed to our agenda. And what is exactly our agenda?
In the world of diversity and inclusion, the agenda is respect. Respect me for the person I am and what I can bring to the table. But you have to invite me first to sit at the table of your board rooms, cabinets or committees.
The questions our community leaders and elected officials have to ask are: Who isn’t sitting at the table and how can we be more inclusive? What do we need to do to reach out to individuals and groups who have never been asked to be part of the decision-making process in our county?
We live in a world of what-ifs. What if we invite people who don’t share our views? What if we invite people to be part of the decision-making process but they don’t make the same decisions we would make? What if they sue us? What if we meet with them and they bring up questions and areas of concern we have no idea how to address or, worse yet, what if they ask why we haven’t seriously addressed these issues in previous years?
Our community has to get past the what-ifs, roll up its sleeves and address areas of real concern of the 25 percent of its stakeholders who happen to be citizens of color.
Our community and, more importantly, our community leaders and elected officials have to listen and really hear what is being said. When you decide to bring together a group of diverse individuals and the subject is about diversity and inclusion you have to be ready to deal with the subject of race and how it affects each of us.
It is going to be uncomfortable, and it is going to be hard. It is supposed to be. Our community and community leaders have to face the issue of race head-on. Communities of color have been polite and have finessed their way to this point. Communities of color who wanted to shout at the top of their lungs, “Listen to us, hear us,” quietly tried to get their voices heard by assimilating and speaking in a way that wasn’t threatening, that would be palatable to the majority.
Some of the majority said “We do hear you,” but others have said they just aren’t ready yet, that it takes time.
My question is: How much time does it take for the workforce in our county to truly reflect the community? How much time does it take to have our educational system address the needs of all of our kids, not just some? How much time does it take to recruit and retain teachers of color? How much time does it take to have our law enforcement agencies address the needs of our diverse communities? How much time does it take to recruit people of color to be represented on our boards, cabinets and committees?
We’re choosing to live in a world of what-ifs, and we’re running out of time. Let’s choose to live in a different world, one in which we ask what it is going to cost us if we don’t change.
Karyn Zigler lives in Marysville.
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