Reflective Essay: Different Types Of Diversity

When I hear diversity many things comes to mind covering a wide range of interests, backgrounds, experiences. Some of the different types of diversity in which I have taken the chance to be a leader in whether it is among groups of people and individuals on the topic of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, gender, exceptionalities, language, religion, sexual orientation diversity, etc. Diversity of experiences, viewpoints, backgrounds, and life experiences. Tolerance of thought, ideas, people with differing viewpoints, backgrounds, and life experiences. I have challenged myself to be a leader on issues of diversity by continue challenge for racial diversity and wrong racial ideology in the debate space.

When we being the Washington Technology Debate Team four years ago the goal was to create a program to help to foster an environment in which all students can build early and honest relationships across the color line in the debate space. I took great pride in not just being a follower that was content with helping in missions to help beaked down the institutional racism and races rhetoric that justified racism as a necessary for the common good. I wanted to challenge the idea that talking about race – even just acknowledging race – was unacceptable, so we can create a debate space in which was open to all kinds of people

to talk about all forms of issue further diversifying debate. For four years I spoke at every debate of how it was vital for us to have an understanding of white privilege, which started with all of us owning the reality of racism in modern day society and taking responsibility for them, which is crucial to this process. Challenging traditional structures is not easy at all, meanly when it comes to race and understanding racism. Debate as an activity has for the longest time has only been accessible to the select few who are already part of the elite circle of policy debate, which leaved them closed up, unwilling to change and diversify their program and their personal ideology. Those who believed they can’t be racism because, “They don’t see color” those who “only saw people”. Many of these debate students had to go through the stage of shedding their colorblind ideology.

If diversity discourse and efforts at inclusion do not include a serious and open discussion of colorblindness, racism, and white privilege, including the many ways those realities intersect with other identities and oppressions, our racial ambivalence will continue. We leave our self-open for deterioration. The problem with colorblindness is that it invalidates people’s identities, racist experiences, narrows westerners understanding of the world and leads to disconnection, equates color with something negative and disingenuous, making it seems that being a person of color is bad and we shouldn’t bring up the color line. Ignoring my skin color does not make us equal. This notion that we should all be colorblind further separating and segregating ourselves.

I am so passionate that we as people should have more diversity of backgrounds life experiences, thought, ideas that I have challenged myself to be a leader on issues of diversity by continue open my communities to challenge themselves on racial diversity and wrong racial ideology.

I have gone on to become a leader not only during debate tournaments and visits to other High schools, College/Universities, but also in my classrooms, church, and other part of my community. I think the fight is still raging on and my present I just one small step, but I know it works. I believe that this can and must happen in other organizations and

communities.