Diversity
In one of my previous posts about a member of the Intolerant 6 (big I and big 6) Thomas Scott, there have been a series of comments with the last 2 being about diversity.
I feel it is important to reiterate them
Anonymous wrote:
"When the blogger says "diversity" he means "gay" right? cause if "diversity" was what was really being championed here we'd be talking up the need for white power skinheads and fundie xtian home schoolers to round things out.
Also I've noticed an influx of latin families that are of pentacostal denomination. Do you think they'd be happy to know of the "diversity" being encouraged if they were to be informed?"
Then Shawn replied:
"No, Anonymous, I don't think Scott means "diversity" as only gay. I think he means it even broader than just "white/black/hispanic". Quite frankly, I think the area is one of the most diverse in all of Tampa. Not only in that it is a favorite home to the local gay and lesbian community, but also because it attracts professionals, artists, craft-workers, service workers, Christians, Pagans, Athiests, conservatives, liberals, young couples, elderly couples, dog lovers, cat lovers, and even bigots.
What makes it work is that the vast majority of the residents are able to live side-by-side and show common courtesy to each other and respect the other's choices in life.
The Pentacostal families are just as welcome in my home as any others. We will certainly disagree on the nature and value of homosexuality in the community and the role of religion in war and strife. The cool thing is, we don't need to talk about those things and can focus on what we have in common, which for starters is this great neighborhood."
Well my response is:
What I mean by diversity is what Shawn basically said.
The white supremcists can bugger off. Diversity does not mean it needs to include hate filled ignorant criminal fools. They can move down the street from Ronda.
As a moderate Republican, one of the problems I have with Ronda and her ilk, living in the suburbs, is that they live in a world that is not diverse, that is populated with others just like them. It is easy to be hard edged about other peoples problems or issues or life when you don't see or experience them.
My neighbor to the left of me is an American black professional middle class mother who belongs to the Islamic faith and is very tied in with the local black community. Her 30's son has CP and moves around in a motorized wheelchair. He uses the Hartline wheelchair trnasport to get to work and get to the mall.
My neighbors caty-corner are a working/middle class Puerto Rican family with 2 teenage/young adult children. At least one os going to college.
My neighbors across are a white middle class professional couple with two young children. They are fundamentalist Christians who have a Home Church at their house once a week. He is from the Ukraine.
My neighbors caty corner the other way is a single mom (Buddhist/Jewish) with a teenaged adopted daughter.
Next door to me is a young working class family with two young children.
At the opposite end of the block is a brother and sister originally from Brazil, raising her two kids. He is a roofer.
Down the street is a gay couple. One is a paralegal and one is an advertising bigwig.
The other way next to my Islamic neighbor is a elderly woman whose husband died of an illness several years ago. Across from her is another elderly hispanic woman, nearly legally blind, whose husband was killd 2 Christmases ago in a car accident at Hillsborough and I-275. Her adult son has moved in with her.
In the street behind me is a man who is blind with a wife who has Alzheimers.
The other direction, one block away is the home of our local drug dealers. They live in the home of their grandmother. Some of the guys living in the home are nice guys.
This is diversity. Economics/Race/Ethnicity/Sexual Orientation/Belief.
3 comments:
Actually, the house in between the Islamic neighbor and the elderly woman is a young couple who moved in a year ago from South Tampa. He's a computer programmer and she's an Indoor Air Quality Project Manager. You left us out Scott! :-)
Hey! Saw some of your peeps in the paper today scaring off even-scarier prostidudes. Good work! Keep it up!
While I agree with the gist of your argument, I've always been a little dubious of the value of diversity, as the term is used today. Typically, diversity today refers only to ethnicity and more particularly skin color. Favoring that over other factors such as economic status and achievement level has created a lot of problems in our education system. I was once asked in a job interview at the University of Colorado State to "prove" my committment to diversity by naming names. I'm not kidding. Such commitments lead, in my opinoin, to empty tokenism. It's unfortunate that diversity means to most straight white males "not you".
People, in general, tend to be pretty diverse in many ways, such as those you listed. I much prefer those people who have the same values as I do, no matter their orientation or skin color. That has more to do with Tolerance which is a value I try to uphold.
This is why I don't think this is the best tactic on Ronda Storms. Those people that we need to vote against her in the upcoming state representative election won't buy the diversity argument. She is at base an intolerant person but as a politician she is a fear-mongerer to the point of demagoguery. She can be beaten but it will depend on the opposing candidate. If that person plays their cards right, they could receive a lot of support from the city, though we cannot vote against her.
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