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Does Our Definition Of Diversity Need To Change?

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posted on Mar, 10 2010 @ 10:06 PM
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I was reading the news paper today and ran across an editoral that made me think. At first it made me think, "well that is racism." Then I finished reading the piece and I had other thoughts. I started thinking about the growing obsession with "diversity." It is a topic that has been rather heated over the last few years.

Now, because of a recent call for diversity in Durham County, NC, people are asking what the meaning of diversity should be. They are asking where should the lines be drawn.

A black county commissioner said that a white planning board member should be bypassed for an Asian applicant. She then back pedalled and said she isn't for one person or the other. She just wants to represent all of the people.

Here are the parts of the editorial that got me thinking.

Define Diverse


County Commissioner Brenda Howerton wants to foster diversity by replacing a white member of the Durham Planning Commission with an Asian applicant. We ardently disagree...

During her tenure, Huff-Smith has made a few waves. The city government asked the Planning Commission to designate the Rolling Hills and Southside neighborhoods as blighted sections of the city. (A blight designation would make the area eligible for low-income housing tax credits.) Huff-Smith went out to the area and talked to residents and business owners, then voted against the city’s request...

Howerton, who is black, argued that she “is not for anyone else or against anyone else, except that we’ve got to represent Durham County. We need to represent all the people and not just some.”


In other words: Who are “all” the people, and how far are we willing to go to make sure they’re represented?


To an extent, that continues. Black Americans and white Americans still experience different worlds — but so do poor Americans and rich Americans, college professors and high school dropouts, men, women, recent immigrants and those whose lives began and will end within 100 square miles.

This recently was illustrated when the chairwoman of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People suggested a proposed new school was a vehicle for white flight. Black residents of the wealthy Treyburn subdivision disagreed...


Is it time to end our obsession with diversity based on race? When does the call for diversity begin to damage the wellfare of the people?

I think that it is time for people to call for an end to race based "diversity" requirements. I think it is time that we become more honest ith ourselves about the true meaning of diversity. I can not think of a bettr time to start than now. A hard working and qualified public servant could lose their position simply because of her skin color. Does that not strike most people as idiotic?

I believe we need to redefine the meaning of diversity. If we want diversity we need to ensure that people from all walks of life - not just all races - are being represented.

What are the thoughts here at ATS? Is diversity going to far when it has the possibility of affecting how well government work? Should a qualified person be denied the right to another term serving their community because someone of an under representd race applies for the spot?



posted on Mar, 10 2010 @ 10:27 PM
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Star from me. What is diversity? No one wants to say they are against diversity. This is one of the worst political sins that can be committed. Yet, as pointed out by the OP, diversity is in the eye of the beholder. Felons are certainly underrepresented. What about those with mental disabilities such as severe retardation or deviant sexual tendencies? Those who speak generically of diversity of course do not mean true diversity. Instead, diversity is a sanitized political speak term for increased power to minorities. I am okay with that. However, call it what it is. If you want more blacks or Asians on a public body, fine. Just say that. Diversity has no meaning in a vacuum.



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