Unlike Affirmative Action, diversity has nothing to do with legislation or judicial process. Diversity is a social movement organized and promoted by businesspeople themselves, including many white males. Their message to everyone else in business is this: Human diversity in the workplace is good for business, and we should quickly move beyond the minimal requirements of Affirmative Action to include people of every variety (in terms of national origin, ethnicity, gender, age, physical ability, and so forth) throughout all levels and functions of our companies.
http://www.grovewell.com/pub-diversity-explain.html
Racism bugs the human race whether we be White or Black; rich or poor; urban or rural, Northern or Southern Hemisphere; master or slave; man or woman; young or old, spiritual or materialistic; literate or illiterate.
Why? Because racism has its roots in fear, the oldest human emotion. It is made worst by possesions be it material, physical, spiritual, educationa, ownership of any kind even power eg. physical power one over another. The more of these acquisistions, the more likley we are to be abusers and abusers make the best racists and bigots, whether we class ourselves as liberal or conservative. Is it not that the abused will become the abuser? Those living in fear will become the most fearsome? Those treated as second class will become the most dictatorial?The Bristish & Boers? Black people, the world over knew no other way of responding to abuse based on color, will now tend to opt for reverse racism. That is why Archbishop Tutu kept reminding us that the struggle for liberation is not only for black people but also for white people.
Color is a sifting indicator to which we attach too much importance. It is so easy to sift people according to color. We did it with crayons and building blocks as children. But sifting is necessary for understanding too especial in masses of data. It is an easy way to differentiate between units of information.
Comparison is another learned bug. Necessary too for understanding.But as Oscar Wilder said:”Comparisonare most odious”. Is it is better to be stronger or wiser or richer? If I am not wise or strong or rich, what is the compunction to attain these?
The anti dote is Trust: In what shall we trust? Perhaps that none of our possesions or attributes matter more than trusting that People all we are beings with innate potential to grow and become.These attibuttes belong to others who are also like self are moving from birth to death, from nakedness to nakedness, from powerlessness to powerlessness all else is trivial the only worthwhile endeavour is too move from fear to trust. Trust that what I possess, both the significant and the in significant, is potentailly available and accessible to all.without any distinction or any prequalification based on the arbitrariness of sex color or creed or even education.
So Trust must be in the potentail of each person to become and grow into a fulness that is both unique and communal. Trusting this in another regenrates self in a dynamic action of growth and creativity. Those who have much, have the greater responsibility in this.This will involve loosing all and trusting that in the loss of the trivial, a more significant potential growth of one plus one making three takes place.
Where shall we start: Imagination. In South Africa our constitution written in a most a life enhancing and aspirational style gives us the basis for such a value system. What are we waitng for? In small or big things, is it fear or will it be trust that will determine our response of YES or NO?
Oom…
I was taught to be “racist”, ja, that’s what my grandparents and parents drilled into my head, and I was a big poep to believe it.’
Well, ja. Today things are different(Thank goodness) and I will not teach my kids to be racist.
Racism is still going strong in SA, between “Black”, “so called coloured” and whites, some more than others, but I hate it when a Taxi says to me…”hey whitey”…jassus, that is the pits….I am not white..I just forgot to put the nugget on. My skin colour(if it really matters) is beige…White is like A4 Paper…And flip, If I had to be “white” like paper. I would probably be sick.
FGB
Good reply. It will be tough because we havre to unlearn so much shit even me as a cape colored.
As a democracy we are still maturing but when I read articles like yours then I have great hope.
Thank you
Carl J Lotter