diversity activities for actual diverse people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh?

Black person here and you sound nuts.

Latinx queer person here...huh back st you. Are you kidding? Have you ever attended a company diversity thing that was useful to you vs awkward, tokenizing or, at best, neutral? I think the OP just wants to know whether there's anything useful that could come out of this for those of us who live "doversiry" every day. I'd say, the least awful ones of these things has allowed us to break off into self-selected groups for small group for small group discussion. I would not say that I learned anything new but I would day that the space created by those groups allowed for much more candid/deep discussions.

White person here. In the current climate, I absolutely will not say one word in a small group discussion about diversity. I will not get dragged into anything that can be used against me.

Black person back who agrees! No interest in being charged with internalized racism, Uncle Tom this, self-hating that. Eff that and I’ll vote how I want thanks and no one can stop me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My organization wants to have a team-building day focusing on diversity and inclusion. Which, yay! But, as a satirical McSweeneys article recently put it, "Select all images that show a person of color who has learned something new about the importance of diversity and inclusion in their organization from the seminar they just attended."

Does anyone have any ideas for activities that could make this a fun and useful day NOT JUST FOR WHITE STRAIGHT ABLE-BODIED PEOPLE?

I tried Googling, and it was unhelpful. Would love to hear from people here.

Yeah, so my suggestion is to talk about neurodiversity in the workplace. We're often invisible/ignored in these kinds of exercises. It's not a very popular or glamorous cause, and if employers focus on this concept at all they just want to obsess over employee's children rather than on their actual employees. 🙄

https://www.texthelp.com/resources/neurodiversity/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My organization wants to have a team-building day focusing on diversity and inclusion. Which, yay! But, as a satirical McSweeneys article recently put it, "Select all images that show a person of color who has learned something new about the importance of diversity and inclusion in their organization from the seminar they just attended."

Does anyone have any ideas for activities that could make this a fun and useful day NOT JUST FOR WHITE STRAIGHT ABLE-BODIED PEOPLE?

I tried Googling, and it was unhelpful. Would love to hear from people here.

Yeah, so my suggestion is to talk about neurodiversity in the workplace. We're often invisible/ignored in these kinds of exercises. It's not a very popular or glamorous cause, and if employers focus on this concept at all they just want to obsess over employee's children rather than on their actual employees. 🙄

https://www.texthelp.com/resources/neurodiversity/

I am and I really don't want to be talked about. Like, I almost always control my stimming, but it's not always and I do not want anyone putting two and two together like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh?

Black person here and you sound nuts.

OP here willing to sound a little nuts. Maybe I didn't explain myself well (or maybe I'm nuts). I was listening to the ideas my coworkers were throwing around for planning the day, and it all sounded like it was focused on educating white people about the fact that racism exists. It seems to me that that's gotta be extremely annoying for the people of color who attend these things year after year. I'm trying to think about activities to suggest that will be useful to everyone, not just to the white people.

Most white people know this already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vomit. Instead of making it about the basics, can you talk about multiethnic, international people (like me ): people who look like they might be from one culture but are actually another, or have several cultures?

Because all this diversity talk is mostly based on appearance. See a black guy, adjust your frame of reference. See a woman, or a guy dressed like a woman, or someone in a wheelchair, make other adjustments. I feel this is counterproductive to some degree.

The goal of the exercise would be to look past what you first notice and make practically no assumptions based on what you see at first glance.

Why don’t we just try to get the job done and stop talking about our colors ?

[Anonymous]

Once things reopen, on a workday organize group trips to the museums on the mall - American Indian, African American, Holocaust etc. Encourage them to choose one or more outing that will broaden their knowledge of an ethnic group different than their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vomit. Instead of making it about the basics, can you talk about multiethnic, international people (like me ): people who look like they might be from one culture but are actually another, or have several cultures?

Because all this diversity talk is mostly based on appearance. See a black guy, adjust your frame of reference. See a woman, or a guy dressed like a woman, or someone in a wheelchair, make other adjustments. I feel this is counterproductive to some degree.

The goal of the exercise would be to look past what you first notice and make practically no assumptions based on what you see at first glance.

Why don’t we just try to get the job done and stop talking about our colors ?

Because OP has a thing to organize. While she checks the box, she could elevate the experience and make it actually meaningful.

[Anonymous]

This discussion is bizarre to me. Diversity isn't just about race. Diversity means having a range of people with various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds and various lifestyles, experience, and interests.

If the only thing you are focusing on is race then you aren't providing adequate diversity training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is bizarre to me. Diversity isn't just about race. Diversity means having a range of people with various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds and various lifestyles, experience, and interests.

If the only thing you are focusing on is race then you aren't providing adequate diversity training.

OP did mention orientation and ability...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huh?

Black person here and you sound nuts.

Latinx queer person here...huh back st you. Are you kidding? Have you ever attended a company diversity thing that was useful to you vs awkward, tokenizing or, at best, neutral? I think the OP just wants to know whether there's anything useful that could come out of this for those of us who live "doversiry" every day. I'd say, the least awful ones of these things has allowed us to break off into self-selected groups for small group for small group discussion. I would not say that I learned anything new but I would day that the space created by those groups allowed for much more candid/deep discussions.

White person here. In the current climate, I absolutely will not say one word in a small group discussion about diversity. I will not get dragged into anything that can be used against me.

Black person back who agrees! No interest in being charged with internalized racism, Uncle Tom this, self-hating that. Eff that and I’ll vote how I want thanks and no one can stop me.

+2. No sense putting yourself out there, what if you offend the wrong person? I'll listen, take notes, participate if asked something directly, but not going to volunteer a thing. I generally do not mind these trainings, and, like to think that I can get something useful out of almost anything, but, we are not in a climate where "honesty" is going to get you anywhere but canned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This discussion is bizarre to me. Diversity isn't just about race. Diversity means having a range of people with various racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds and various lifestyles, experience, and interests.

If the only thing you are focusing on is race then you aren't providing adequate diversity training.

OP did mention orientation and ability...

It’s the most loaded category, so the one people are going to be most resistant to talking about. But, I personally wouldn’t say anything in any group discussion about any protected category. It’s just not worth the potential hassle.

[Anonymous]

Please hire a professional to carry out this training. If you don't you will do more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Honestly I think we should all just switch families and homes for a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once things reopen, on a workday organize group trips to the museums on the mall - American Indian, African American, Holocaust etc. Encourage them to choose one or more outing that will broaden their knowledge of an ethnic group different than their own.

I'm Jewish and I don't think the Holocaust museum or anything genocide-themed is a good diversity activity. Like, what are we learning there that's practical in terms of how we should behave at the workplace? Don't genocide people? I think 'how to behave in a professional setting/what's expected of you', with those things being clear and applicable to everyone, is the best you can expect from this sort of thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once things reopen, on a workday organize group trips to the museums on the mall - American Indian, African American, Holocaust etc. Encourage them to choose one or more outing that will broaden their knowledge of an ethnic group different than their own.

I'm Jewish and I don't think the Holocaust museum or anything genocide-themed is a good diversity activity. Like, what are we learning there that's practical in terms of how we should behave at the workplace? Don't genocide people? I think 'how to behave in a professional setting/what's expected of you', with those things being clear and applicable to everyone, is the best you can expect from this sort of thing.

I’m Jewish and think sending people to the Holocaust museum, followed by a conversation about the Jewish American experience could be instructive as a portion of a diversity and inclusion program. Same thing with the museums devoted to the Native American and African American experiences.

We need to move beyond defining all of this as “the Black American experience and everyone else.”