How Has Diversity Affected Your World?

A Saturday prompt

(Photo via Getty Images)

Today is February 1, which means it’s the first day of Black History Month, which was officially recognized by President Gerald Ford in 1976 to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” This celebration dates back to 1926 when Carter G. Woodson—the son of former slaves and the second African American to earn a PhD from Harvard University (in 1912)—initiated Negro History Week. February was chosen to correspond with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass (celebrated on Feb. 14) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12).

And this year, with Donald Trump in the White House? The military and intelligence agencies are banning—as of today—the celebration of Black History Month. A news release from the Department of Defense posted yesterday was titled “Identity Months Dead at DoD” and barred the military from hosting any celebrations related to Black History Month, as well as Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month and National American Indian Heritage Month. Earlier this week, in addition to the aforementioned banned events, the Defense Intelligence Agency released a memo suspending observance of Martin Luther King Day, Juneteenth and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In this context, Black History Month takes on particular meaning, indeed can be seen as an act of defiance, in the face of Trump and his regime’s aggressive efforts to reject “too-often neglected accomplishments,” whitewash American history to minimize or cast doubt on the horrors of slavery and the reality of racial injustice, ban books that honestly explore this history and demand “patriotic education,” and falsely insist without facts that diversity hiring has caused great harm to American success and effectiveness—and invigorate white supremacy as the status quo.

We are now seeing these hostile moves play out as presidential policy. Trump is stripping away diversity, equity and inclusion programs and policies from the federal government—and cravenly exploiting the deadly mid-air collision this week to intensify the culture war, blaming diversity hiring for the tragedy without evidence. “It just could have been,” he said when questioned by journalists, adding that he knew this “because I have common sense.”

In reflecting on this hateful trajectory, I’m reminded of the insights from New Yorker staff writer Katy Waldman that reference Robin DiAngelo’s book White Fragility: “White people cling to the notion of racial innocence, a form of weaponized denial that positions black people as the ‘havers’ of race and the guardians of racial knowledge. Whiteness, on the other hand, scans as invisible, default, a form of racelessness.” Trump and his supporters are determined to end end any of their own discomfort, no matter how much pain they case others.

I have seen throughout my life and particularly in my experience as a university professor how diversity enriches experience, deepens and expands knowledge and culture, and increases the quality of life and our capacity to confront an increasingly complex world where real solutions require diverse thinking. I can tell you that a class I taught focused on climate change narratives was greatly enriched by the observations, questions, life experience and on-the-ground knowledge from my students from Nigeria, China and Mexico. New York would not be New York—and America would not be America—without its diversity and rich immigrant history. That’s what makes this rejection of inclusion, demonization and “othering” of refugees and other vulnerable people by the Queens-born Trump and his regime’s new orders so abhorrent.

Just think about what you eat, for example. Do you recall how a Trump supporter back in 2016 darkly threatened there would be “taco trucks on every corner” if Hillary Clinton won—and this was largely met by people saying they hoped this delicious promise would come true? And that’s just one tiny example.

What do you think? How has diversity affected your world? How concerned are you by these hostile moves by the Trump administration? And do you feel confident that we, as a society, won’t lose our commitment to social, cultural and racial diversity? Please do share your personal experiences if you can.

As always, I look forward to reading your observations and the opportunity for this community to learn from each other. Please do be respectful in your remarks. Trolling will not be tolerated.

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