Diversity Story Champion of the Week!

Hello Members, The what if? Network wants to hear about your diversity story! There are tons of diversity stories happening all around the world every day, and now you can tell the network about stories happening in your area. The member with the most unique diversity story will receive a What if? Network T-shirt, and a copy of the book, What if?:Short Stories to Spark Diversity Dialogue, for their entry. Every week we will select one diversity story, and feature that member as our diversity story champion of the week. Entries for the week will begin Friday and end on Thursday afternoon at 2:00pm Eastern! Submit you stories here!

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Permalink Reply by Kelly on August 22, 2008 at 11:55pm

Here is my diversity story. Enjoy!

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This I believe revised.doc, 29 KB

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Permalink Reply by Cynthia Grady on September 2, 2008 at 10:40am: Kelly good job on your story. This is so true and you are so lucky to work with a team that allowed you to conduct such a test. We think are kids are not listening to a lot of adult talk, and their friends talk from their families but they do! This story proved it. Again thanks and good job, we need more concerned teachers out here.
Cyndi; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly on September 5, 2008 at 2:36pm: Thanks for the words of encouragement. It's always nice to no you're not alone.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxanne Wright on September 4, 2008 at 1:47pm: I feel you my sister. What you speak about in your story is actually an interesting phenomenon that I often encounter. I think that I have developed some level of skill (AKA grace) in responding to the statement of "I don't see color". Some responses that I have used over the years include: "How come? There are so many good ones", or "Wow, that's too bad. Have you seen an optometrist about that?", or "Wow, and your clothes are so well coordinated despite that!" or, in the case of a school, "Gee that must make for some interesting art classes!" Anyway, I think that my initial response is always done in a way that makes people realize the ridiculousness of their statements, since everyone (sight impaired excepted) sees color! During expanded conversation, it is helpful to point out that "seeing color" is not the problem; the problems come from assigning some less than positive attributes associated with the color, or not seeing that color and other cultural distinctions can actually enhance individuals and the learning environment. Because...... once you can see that, the possibilities for inclusion and expansion abound.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly on September 5, 2008 at 2:47pm: I absolutely love your responses to the "I don't see color" statement. Those are classic and I hope you don't mind if I use some of them. I'm about to start traveling to teach project based learning in various schools, so I may have to deal with some interesting diversity issues. When people decide to "see" color it moves them away from mere tolerance to inclusion which are worlds apart and that scares people. I appreciate your insightful comments. Thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Roxanne Wright on September 8, 2008 at 4:17pm: You are welcome....and you are welcome to use my responses. The other day I noticed a quote from Julian Bond in response to the teachers who say "I treat all my kids the same and don't even see color when I look at them." He said, "Of course, this is neither true not desirable, as their kids in fact do have a race, and their race matters because it says a lot about the kinds of challenges they are likely to face. To not see color is to not see the consequences of color; and if color has consequences, which it surely does, yet you've resolved not to notice the thing that provokes those consequences, the odds are pretty good that you'll inadequately serve the needs of the students in question every time." Tim Wise (in his book, White Like Me)continues, "to not see people for who they are is miss the cues that some, but not all, of your students are dealing with racism. To treat everyone the same, or like the white common denominator, is to miss the fact that children of color have all the same challenges that white kids do, and then that one extra thing to deal with: racism." (and in some cases, internalized racism).
Good luck in your travels.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Headbloom on April 23, 2009 at 6:48pm: Roxanne,
Thanks for the Bond quote. I will use it in future discussions. We need gentle, yet articulate and to-the-point talking points when we're Out There in the World, having conversations with reg'lar folk. Incisive but not off-putting or too challenging. It's easy to shut others down when we don't mean to, when we merely intend to educate. it's all a process.
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