Diversity stories
The Only Way to Stop Racism In The World
You cannot solve a complex problem with a one-dimensional approach. Understand invisible diversity to develop a multi-dimensional solution.
The death of George Perry Floyd Jr., a black American man killed during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after allegedly using counterfeit money to buy cigarettes, ignited a long series of protests all around the US and in many other countries around the world. Luckily, the brave voices of people asking for diversity, inclusion, and equity have found many supporters, including big corporations from the business world.
However, are these protests enough to end racism? Is racism limited to race and skin color only? Is limiting diversity to a race enough to end racism?
They will surely not be enough to end racism. But there is an antidote — invisible diversity. It is the golden key to accept and respect our differences, no matter what they are.
We cannot solve racism in the world as long as we pursue a one-dimensional approach to understand and respect diversity. Only a multi-dimensional approach can help us develop a permanent resolution to an irregular and complex problem.
Let me clarify what I mean.
We can use the systems approach to classify everything in life.
The human mind cannot handle anything more than 7 things at the same time. So if you want to paralyze anyone, give them more than 7 tasks to manage. That is, a problem with less than 7 parameters could be called simple. Then problems with more than 7 parameters are complex.
If the universe is like a giant system, systems could be both regular and irregular, meaning we can either see the cause and effects or not.
Draw an x-axis and a y-axis, name the x-axis as regularity, and the y-axis as complexity. That will give you 4 boxes making a simple matrix. Diversity is a multi-parameter problem with limited visibility on the cause and effect of interactions. While it is easy to solve a simple and regular problem with simple solutions, it requires wisdom to solve a complex and irregular problem like racism, which is related to diversity.
Understanding invisible diversity is the path to developing the wisdom we are looking for.
Moreover, as anyone experienced in change management will easily understand, change does not happen overnight. It needs sponsorship and role modeling from leadership, execution of a vision, mission, strategy, and a plan, involvement, and contribution of dedicated people working to execute the plan, supporters and promoters advocating for change and convincing people, and the ability to hear the voices of people to understand the impact of change.
Every change happens first at a mental level and then at the physical level. It means change requires training people from the beginning to the end. However, the initial training is the hardest step because changing people’s mindset could be as hard as breaking a stone with bare hands.
Let me ask you several powerful questions to shed light on the importance of invisible diversity.
Powerful question 1 — WHAT IS DIVERSITY?
It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.
Powerful question 2 — WHAT ARE THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES THAT MAKES US UNIQUE?
It is a long list but the common ones are the following ones.
Race, ethnicity, cultural background, gender, gender identity and/or expression, socio-economic status, national origin, disability, union affiliation, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, citizenship, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies.
What do you see in common?
It is mostly related to what you can see from outside or things that you can find out after a short talk. Come on. Humans are not that simple. Every human is like a microcosmos full of layers of vast inner realms. If we are living beings with a body, mind, and soul, then diversity needs should consist of different dimensions.
Most of the things in the list above are still a problem to live together in peace and harmony in many parts of the world, even in most western countries. Despite the rise of humanism with the Renaissance in the 15th-century, we still struggle to accept and live with diversity, even in the 21st-century. Especially in times of economic and political instability, such problems arise more above the surface.
Powerful question 3 — IS DIVERSITY LIMITED TO PHYSICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL DIFFERENCES?
Definitely not, because we, humans, are not only flesh and bone. We have a mind and a spirit. Human design is multi-dimensional and is beyond physical existence?
Powerful question 4 — WHAT ARE THE OTHER DIMENSIONS OF DIVERSITY?
I will call this the invisible diversity, which is the key driver of our differences. If diversity is the cap of an iceberg, invisible diversity is the majority of the iceberg under the water waiting to be discovered.
What does invisible diversity consist of?
Temperament, genetic heritage, personality, life experiences, defense and coping mechanisms, fears and anxieties, values, emotional states, thinking, learning and decision-making style, skills, knowledge, abilities, gifts and talents, psychological situation, any family matter or external conditions impacting daily life.
Before you attempt to make a judgment or an assumption, think twice to empathize with the other person. You cannot understand anyone unless you wear her shoes.
Powerful question 5 — WHY DO WE NEED DIVERSITY?
Spiritually, the universe is a soup of diverse living and non-living beings. It is like an ocean full of an endless number of droplets, minerals, animals, and plants. That universal ocean is incomplete without the living and non-living beings inside it, and it exists to give life to them. After a moment of singularity with Big Bang, the universe expanded and is still expanding, providing the conditions for life to exists. There is no universe without diversity.
On Earth, there are 7.8 billion people. Would you like to be surrounded by 7.8 billion of yourself? If you cannot visualize what I mean, remember Agent Smith standing in front of Neo, in the famous Hollywood movie, The Matrix. Would it not be boring? Diversity brings the color of life. It is an enriching factor that enables us to learn from each other and work together to do the things we cannot do alone.
Diversity and racism deserve a longer story, so I will cut it short at this point. I do hope that the concept of invisible diversity is clear.
Here are a few suggestions to understand both the visible and invisible diversity, to maximize inclusion, and to establish equity. This is the only way to stop racism.
- There is no life without diversity, either in the universe or in the world. ACCEPT THE EXISTENCE OF DIFFERENCES AND THE MEANING OF DIVERSITY
- Fighting does not bring peace. There is no example of real people coming with wars and battles. STOP RESISTING THE DIFFERENCES AND LEAVE YOUR COMFORT ZONES
- The only reason for life to exist in the world and the universe is to learn from the diversity. UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO LEARN FROM. EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING TO OFFER. EVERYONE HAS A TALENT. LOOK AT EVERYONE LIKE A STUDENT HUNGRY TO LEARN MORE. MAYBE YOUR FRIEND NEXT TO YOU ALREADY HAS THE SOLUTIONS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN LIFE.
- If you cannot tolerate physical differences, how can you tolerate invisible diversity? STOP YOUR INNER CRITIC, JUST LISTEN. LISTEN ACTIVELY TO HEAR AND UNDERSTAND DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW. ONLY THEN YOU CAN LEARN AND GROW.
The universe is nothing but an endless interaction of different forms of existence. They make the cosmic soup tasteful and valuable. Diversity is not a threat but a richness. I hope, those who have not understood it yet, will soon realize what they are missing and the color of life they are not aware of.
Cheers,
Kenan