Re: Describing Diversity | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: carol collier (doctor5622noyahoo.com) | |
Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2016 12:00:43 -0700 (PDT) |
blockquote, div.yahoo_quoted { margin-left: 0 !important; border-left:1px #715FFA solid !important; padding-left:1ex !important; background-color:white !important; } As someone who is Black, I fear living in co-housing again because when people talk about diversity. I sometime sense they try to appear to support it by avoiding the elephant in the room. Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone On Sunday, September 11, 2016, 10:57 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> wrote: How does your community describe diversity in your community. This sentence has been suggested for our website: > In early 2016, approximately 20% of residents were non-white, 8% of adults >identified as LGBT, and several of us were living with disabilities. I objected to last week when I saw it on several grounds. This information is based on the assumptions of the webmasters, not self-identification, and is given without definitions. Who is non-white? Clearly subjective. One of our Hispanic members is convinced she has African American ancestry—“Look at me." How would you classify our Indian members? The British call them black. Or the "bi-racial children"? Is it fair to call them non-white or white? And is “white” pejorative when everyone else has a nationality? European is better and Caucasian more accurate. Are Hispanics white or Hispanic? If I am African American, do I become a statistic? If I’m Hispanic and came from Scandinavia, am I twofer? The intent is clear and the definitions are probably “standard” but even the Census now allows “mixed”. Race is also considered a social construct with no validity. And we don’t think of each other that way. It misrepresents the community to identify members with these distinctions. The point is to be diverse because it not an issue, not because it is. My suggestion is more like: > We have households with members who are partnered and single; from many > ethnic, religious and cultural traditions; variously abled and challenged; > parents and non-parents; and of differing sexual orientations and > nationalities. > > Some watch television and others don’t; some are fat and some skinny; some > vegan, vegetarian, and omnivores; and parents and non-parents. Avid gardeners > and others who just enjoy watching. Some are up at dawn to call for the snow > plow and others rise somewhere short of noon. Some humor helps but the seemingly humorous distinctions are also important. When I was looking for cohousing, I eliminated one eco-village when the contact said, “Oh, we even have people who watch television.” Those are the things some people are looking for. The lifestyle issues. Will I be considered weird? Or sinful? Or not politically correct? The vegan and vegetarian thing is a deal breaker for some people, as is being an omnivore in some communities. I think how we identify each other is a very important issue and has been since the 1970s with the civil rights movements. It can easily separate rather than welcome. Sharon ---- Sharon Villines Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC http://www.takomavillage.org _________________________________________________________________ Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at: http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
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Describing Diversity Sharon Villines, September 11 2016
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Re: Describing Diversity carol collier, September 11 2016
- Re: Describing Diversity Sharon Villines, September 12 2016
- Re: Describing Diversity carol collier, September 11 2016
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Re: Describing Diversity carol collier, September 11 2016
- Re: Describing Diversity Elizabeth Magill, September 11 2016
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Re: Describing Diversity John Carver, September 11 2016
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Re: Describing Diversity Sharon Villines, September 12 2016
- Re: Describing Diversity Jenny Guy, September 19 2016
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Re: Describing Diversity Sharon Villines, September 12 2016
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