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The answer is that if all our population differences in America are well represented, there are significant benefits gained. The differences they speak of can be found along racial lines, sexual orientation, gender, religion, political ideology, economic status, etc. To those who believe diversity is our strength, American is only diverse if a wide variety of us have representation. I decided to write about cultural diversity for my weekly column because it has been a hot-button issue when applied to recent discussions about immigration.
But why does it even matter? It matters because it can benefit society. Take the workplace as an example, writing for thebalance.com, Kimberly Amadeo lists five reasons why Silicon Valley is so competitive. One of those reasons is cultural diversity. Silicon Valley attracts many of the world’s top engineers and entrepreneurs. That, in turn, allows people from varying backgrounds to contribute to solving problems and creating solutions. Often, those solutions are innovative ideas that wouldn’t exist without the perspective of people who look at solving problems from different angles.
For American to see the strength that diversity can bring, we must elect representatives who value the philosophy. More important, we must integrate that philosophy into our laws. This isn’t something that will come quick and easy. It will take a lot time and commitment. Americans must be willing to be unbiassed and unprejudiced about the value of differences — whether Liberal, Conservative, Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, Christian, Gay, or Straight.
If we don’t have that commitment from Americans, cultural diversity will weaken us as a country. For instance, look at how differences in interpretations of events related to police shootings in our country have led to miscommunication along racial and political lines. Hostility has risen because of those differences, prejudices have worsened that effect, and people from all sides (black, white, conservative, and liberal) have jumped to often wrong conclusions about one another’s beliefs.
Managing American Diversity
When we stereotype others, we create destructive communication. Furthermore, we choose not to value the person we stereotype as an individual. We only see political ideology, race, gender, religion, their sexual orientation, or economic status. I know this to be very true, as I, have not always valued others. I wanted the people I stereotyped to conform to my prejudice so that I would feel validated. In the end, I filtered that person through my own prejudice. I did this when talking to my friends about the Confederate flag, black lives matter, blue lives matter, and presidential candidates.
While it will take time for all the benefits of diversity to gained, it will be worth it. When America is united, that diversity will make us more competitive, innovative, and raise our performance. The result? A better economy, and more opportunity for everyone in our country.
The key to managing diversity is for the people of our country to share a common goal. A strong commitment to a common outcome can overcome differences. That goal should be to remind Americans of the true intent of the founding father’s vision for our country – the government should protect our opportunity to purse our own idea of happiness. Our desire to pursue what makes us happy is what drives ambition and creativity. If we all strive to share and protect that goal and the values – family, hard work, community, and freedom of religion – that make the American Dream possible, we will have a society that allows individuals from all walks of life to have a better life. And, that is true diversity.
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A version of this post was published on BlogWithDarnell and is republished with the author’s permission.
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