From Tolerance to Inclusion (Part 1)
Why is it in 2009 the concept of Diversity and Inclusion still important to discuss? A few weeks ago, on June 10th, a man was murdered at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC by what has been described a as a White Supremacist. What a tragedy!! We heard a little about this initially and then not much. Have we become numb as a society to hate crimes? According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, in 2008 there were 926 active hate groups in the United States with 23 in Ohio. Hate groups are those defined as doing criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting, and publishing. This represents people who are doing these things as a group, not individually; additionally there are individuals acting on their own.
So many people say diversity is about tolerance. I cringe each time I hear the word when referencing diversity. Tolerance to me means to put up with or to deal with. When things are tolerated it is not a good thing and I don't visualize people with open arms tolerating others. Acceptance is allowing someone to come into the community. It's okay or you to be here, and it's often the next step after tolerance. It's a little more of a neutral position. Often there is not much mixing with people who are different. Then comes appreciation, not only do I let you in, but I am glad you are here. I respect you for who you are and see the value of you being here. You are value added to our community.
Finally, we come to the place of inclusion. You can see yourself in the culture of the community, embedded in it. Inclusion means having the pictures on the walls and in the brochures or literature represent people of a variety of racial, religion, physical ability and gender backgrounds, for example. This also means making sure that there is a diverse group of people as a part of small group interactions including going out to lunch and committee assignments that give input in all decisions that are being made organizational wide. My business partner, Ruth Ramos says, "Diversity is the noun and inclusion is the verb or the action." As organizations we have to move beyond the differences between us and towards inclusion as a value. This means respecting each other in a genuine way. Diversity is more than holding hands and singing Kumbaya and sponsoring Ethnic Food Festivals.
In my next posting we will look at a few steps organizations can take towards being a more inclusive organization.
