The 5 Cultural Diversity Practitioner Competencies for Managing Cultural Collisions — Diversity Certification Programs — DELA
* The cultural diversity professional that wants an anti-cultural diversity protester silenced will not succeed in creating inclusion. Taking care of the traumatized and reducing future threat require embracing the people who say and do things that exclude and their targets. * The exclusionist will say and do things that rub against the sacred inclusion values practitioners hold. Competent practitioners avoid getting hooked by these acts of exclusion. Instead, they focus as much attention on serving the needs of the exclusionist as those psychologically harmed by their words and deeds. That is the only path towards full inclusion. This does not mean colluding in the harm. It means understanding each side to come up with the best possible solution to address and limit the harm their behaviors cause. Google may have gotten rid of one troublemaker by firing the employee who wrote the email, but not the real problem. I have offered a better alternative in several articles, including “Don Imus Needs Heart Surgery — Not a Vacation”.
Consistently Focus on Separating the Real Problem from Its Symptoms
* Competent cultural diversity practitioners focus on solving the larger problem. In the case of anti-cultural diversity talk by speakers on college campuses, the problem that needs to be solved is how to create a teachable moment for students and staff under such conditions. It will be challenging, but that is what it takes. * Focusing on solving the real problem means that you are willing to take calculated risks to support a learning environment even when the culprit does everything possible to undermine your efforts.
Compassion for Individuals Who Espouse & Value Exclusion
* Most people protesting the dismantling of Confederate monuments deeply love what they symbolize. You and I may not share their values, but it is shortsighted to not appreciate their emotional attachment. African American UFC heavyweight fighter, Derick Lewis, learned this first hand as he volunteered assistance to Hurrican Harvey victims in Houston, Texas. The father of one family he picked up had only the clothes on his back and the Confederate flag clenched under his arms. The man and his family were desperate for help. He apologized and told Lewis he was willing to ride in the back of his truck. Even with his wife telling him that he should leave the flag behind, the man would not give it up. The cultural diversity practitioner cannot have a meaningful discussion with a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) by pointing out the fact that most of the monuments were erected without an approval process. That is not what they want to hear. It just adds salt to their wound. * You are much better off trying to relate their sentiment towards the Confederate symbols to something you hold sacred. It may be something that has been passed down through your ancestry. You want to recognize your feeling towards that heirloom and consider how it will impact you if laws were created to remove them. That would be closer to how the Confederate sympathizers feel. * Compassion is the ability to empathize with another person’s point of view. Compassion towards people with values that oppose their own is a crucial cultural diversity practitioner competence. It models tolerance and inclusion. Having compassion for someone means that you can “put yourself in their shoes”. * Empathizing with someone that discriminates against immigrants, lesbians, the homeless, and differently abled is very difficult. It is not easy to embrace the desires and needs of someone with values we do not appreciate, but we can appreciate how it feels to be rejected. It may take a lifetime, but you will be rewarded with improvement.
Originally published at https://diversityexecutiveacademy.com.
