News-Record.com

I guess I don't get out enough. What exactly are the problems that this is trying to address? I know I personally have no race relation problems. I live in a mixed-race neighborhood and I don't know of any neighbors who don't get along. That's a myopic view of the situation, I know... like I said, I don't get out much. It's just that when I do get out, I don't see any tension or poor relations. I just see lots of folks of several different racial groups going about their business without anyone even looking cross-ways at anyone else.

Just wondering.

"We're trying to appeal to more than the activist community," Young said. "We're really trying to make this appeal to people who are often not involved in these kinds of discussions."

I left G'boro in 99 and in the years I lived there I read the same comments as those above. Since leaving I have continued to read the N&R and keep up with the happenings in G'boro in that manner and through friends still living there. I have read article after article on this subject and wonder why and what is the purpose.

Every article speaks of diversity, which means a difference. My question is why do folks always have to address differences when addressing likenesses would serve a more positive outcome.

I don't care what kind of a community you live in, whether it is a racially mixed, economically mixed or all of one race and ecomomic strata, there is going to be differences. Some may be as small as somebody doesn't like the kind of flowers you have growing on your porch to as large as they don't like you because of your heritage. You can talk all of this til the cows come home and there will always be a group or groups who still see problems. That's life, that's human frailty and no amount of talk is going to change it.

I suppose what I am saying is that the only folks who want to talk something to death seem to be the folks with an agenda. That agenda is usually to enhance themselves.

The rest of us, well we just seem to get along because we don't have an agenda that needs to be talked to death. We would rather live ours.

There are people who probably do not think about race when considering how they interact with other people in casual, day-to-day interactions.

That does not mean that race is not an issue.

Would those same individuals not think about race if all of a sudden their sons or daughters came home and announced plans to marry someone of a different race?

Do these people's blood levels boil a little differently, depending on the race of individuals involved in controversies? (I would not go out on a limb either way with regard to the murder trial outcomes for Robert Blake and O.J. Simpson, but why were the responses to these two trials so different? In at least some ways, there were similarities between the two cases, but there were extreme differences between how people responded to the announced verdicts.)

I agree with Mr. Produce that diversity manifests itself in ways far beyond race, gender, socioeconomics, and other typically noted differences.

You could take all the men of one race who belong to the same church and live in the same neighborhood, and you still have great potential for other extremely important differences to exist among them in terms of their life experiences, perceptions, and opinions (another word for these differences is diversity).

But there is also the potential for such individuals to be aligned in their thinking on a great many topics of mutual concern, based on the similarities that do exist.

The overall Guilford County community has its fair share of diversity, but I wonder if some people ever think about the lack of diversity some people often encounter in their own social circles--those circles in which relationships are formed that usually matter far more than the casual, day-to-day encounters that don't require that much effort or commitment.

I don't buy into foolish, ignorant notions that only whites can be racist or that whites should devote their lives to apologizing for their ancestors misdeeds.

But I do believe that whites, as a majority in our community, have the greater burden of considering what it would be like to be in the position of a minority.

Whites can insist all that they want that it would not matter if conditions were reversed, but I don't think it is possible to assume that without actually experiencing it.

Would most whites feel as comfortable working in an environment in which they were the only whites?

Would most whites feel as comfortable living in a community in which they are one of a handful of white families?

Would most whites feel as comfortable having their children attend a school in which they are among a very small number of whites in classes and in the halls? (For at least some whites, even if a majority black school had the absolute best academic reputation, I assure you that they would still not want their children to attend that school because of the perceived social conditions.)

These are the type of circumstances that many blacks and other minorities face not just occasionally but very regularly.

Whites in many cases can go through life without ever facing these circumstances.

To a large extent, this is just the reality of how things are, but that does not mean that we should not become more aware and more sensitive to what is out there.

Blacks are not innocent either. Some blacks develop the mindset (I cite Skip Alston for my use of this word) that they cannot possibly be racist under any circumstances because of the historical racism that blacks have experienced in this country at the hands of whites.

I know all about the argument that blacks are not in positions of power, so even if they have prejudiced attitudes toward whites, they cannot wield any influence over the lives of white people.

That may have been persuasive in the past, but there are too many blacks in positions of power today for that argument to hold any weight.

Our county's own Skip Alston sets himself up as one of the greatest fools around every time he makes such arguments because he is one of the black people out there who definitely can never make such a claim, considering his current position in our society.

Even if you could argue that blacks can never be racist toward whites, it is indisputable that some whites and blacks all but hold hands in unity through their ugly comments and actions against Hispanics, Asians, and others who do not fall into the neat white/black categories.

There are many whites and blacks who are equally in need of so-called diversity training, not just with regard to how they view and interact with each other but also with respect to how they view and interact with "others."

This is such a deep and complicated topic, and I know that I am throwing out only a sampling of the issues that need to be considered.

I am going to take a break and may add additional ideas later.

I do think that a lot of the programs designed to encourage better interpersonal relations are poorly designed and arguably have different objectives in mind any way.

By the way, in response to the BIG question, "Do we really want to talk about race?" part of the answer is that the individuals most in need of such discussions will never voluntarily come to the dialogue table, and the ones who least need to participate in such discussions will be there any way, not because they need it but because they want it.

Look forward to other comments on this topic because it is not a subject on which anyone can claim a monopoly on truth.

The idea of Faith & Community on April 10th is to honor our religious traditions that place importance on community interaction. It will be wonderful to have Jews, Muslims, Buddhist and Christians along with some Hindu music jointly expressing the joy of friendship, reconciliation and healing. The process of talking, praying and interacting with each other may help create a few answers and better help us understand the important questions. Interacting, dialogue and prayer should be areas around which many of us can share and learn. Our racial differences can also be an important area for dialogue, understanding and friendship. Celebrating our diversity and learning from each other is part of living in community. I hope many can share this celebration on April 10th at 6:00 pm at the First Baptist Church. All such events can only open a door. Entering is always your choice.

Well said Mr. Floyd. The next to last paragraph pretty much says it all.

Please don't force me to take another course in diversity. I don't want to be victim! It is difficult enough to be responsible for my own actions let alone the actions of others. There should not be an interest in developing new stereotypes.

Do we need more laws that open up more opportunities for law suits? Is diversity a collection of differences; or a way of making all of us think, act, look, and speak the same? Does one have a choice in being different? To be different is bad?

Who is doing all of this diversity teaching and development? What do they get out of it? What is the goal of diversity? So I looked up the word.

Diversity
NOUN:
pl. di?ver?si?ties

The fact or quality of being diverse; difference.
A point or respect in which things differ.

Variety or multiformity:

"Charles Darwin saw in the diversity of species the principles of evolution that operated to generate the species: variation, competition and selection" (Scientific American).

I understand that people are different! There appears to be a lot time and money spent talking about a fact that is self evident.

PERZAKTLEY RNewton