Diversity is good, but it isn’t everything - Worthie Springer

The topic of racial and ethnic diversity has become a very big debate in 21st century Western societies. Discussion on the topic has become ubiquitous. It has enmeshed itself in almost every part of our culture from the movies we watch, the books we read, our politics, to even the food we consume. 

Conversations about diversity have become ineluctable. This speaks very highly of our culture;  the fact the West is open and interested in different people and experiences is something to be commended. However, as a culture, we must take issue with diversity being used as a metric to judge whether something is racist.

In the race discourse today, diversity is used as the battery that supplies the moral energy used in conversations about racial and gender progress. Diversity has now become the ultimate measuring stick to determine an organization's moral ‘goodness’. After all, according to Ibram X. Kendi and others akin in his philosophy, any racial disparity is racist. End of story. 

The fallacy that unequal outcome is evidence of unequal opportunity lies at the heart of the Anti-Racist vision. And when it comes to issues of diversity, any organization that does not have the ‘right’ numbers of certain racial groups is unjust and an obstacle to progress. This logic would make sense in a different time, but in the 21st century, this way of thinking produces more false positives than actual ones. Am I supposed to think that just because the only athletes that are billionaires are black, this would mean that an equally skilled Japanese person could not also join the list? Using Kendi’s logic, and those who agree with him, the answer is yes. 

Conversations about diversity are how liberals such as myself get taken in by the Anti-Racist vision. Seemingly, diversity, at face value, is a ‘good’ thing which any ‘good’ person would want to get behind. The language surrounding diversity also has very powerful emotional phrases that galvanize people.  Such phrases include: ‘diversity is our strength’, ‘representation matters’ and ‘no one here looks like me’.

Let's examine these phrases. 

I would have to disagree with the phrase ‘diversity is our strength’. Diversity is one of our numerous strengths. The West has differentiated itself from the rest with much more than its diversity.  The West does it with science, literature, constitutions that emphasize individual rights, and, yes, our diversity. But, if you were to rank diversity against all of the things listed above, would it be first place? Of course not. 

Next, ‘representation matters’. This is understandable. After all, there is a reason why Obama becoming president was seen as evidence of progress. However, this line of thinking defines  representation too narrowly. As a black and blind man, am I supposed to believe that I can only be represented by someone who is black and blind? I do not think so. 

To believe that minorities can only be properly represented by other minorities is to have a low-resolution view of how humans work, and to fail to understand that regardless of our background, we can connect, empathize, and be inspired by one another. 

To be inspired by someone is the ultimate form of representation. The person who inspires you might not represent who you are now, but they would represent who you want to be. For example, just because I am blind does not mean that I cannot be inspired and identify with those who are not.     

One of my heroes is Vandi Verma. She is the person who drove the Mars Perseverance Rover for Nasa. 

I am pretty sure that she does not look like me and she is not blind. But I couldn't care less about that. She is an example of pure greatness, performing at the top of her discipline. We must move beyond the view that people can only identify with those who share the same skin color. We miss the person within this way. What is most important is not the color of the skin, but the character of the person.  This is how so many white people voted for Obama, and likewise, Hispanics and black people with Trump. Because they understood that representation can be done by people who do not share their appearance. Ultimately, they felt it was their values that were represented. 

Lastly, ‘no one here looks like me’.  When I hear this phrase, it leaves me with questions. What do you mean? Do all minorities look the same? Not all black people have similar skin tones, and they surely do not all look alike. The same can be said for Latinos and Asians. Maybe, I am missing something because of my blindness?

The feeling of discomfort that some feel because they are the only minority in the room is something I do not share. Maybe it is because I do not know when I am the only minority in a room, or it can be since I generally don't know the race of the person I'm speaking with. Race is not a factor in the majority of my interactions. Regardless of the answer, I am not someone who is threatened or uneasy about being the only black person in a room, and I don't believe, others should either. Just because ‘no one here looks like you’, does not mean no one here is not like you. 

We live in a time where interracial friendships and relationships are commonplace, and if this proves anything, it proves that superficial differences are just that…Superficial. And they're not insuperable obstacles that can prevent us from cooperating with one another. 

Diversity as an issue is not going away anytime soon. As the West becomes more racially diverse, more questions about diversity will arise. But if we truly want to be diverse, as a polity and as thinking people, we must understand that racial and ethnic diversity is superficial. 

We certainly have more things that unite us than divide us. That is why people from all over the world can be inspired by things like NBA basketball, Russian literature and Reggaeton alike. These are three different things, that are done by different groups of people, but despite this, they are all global successes. 

Something does not have to be racially or ethnically diverse to appeal to a diverse audience. We are much more than skin color and any other superficial trait, and we must not think otherwise. Diversity is good, but it is far from everything.