Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Describing Diversity

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

I’m certainly in favor of self-identification! But are you saying that you 
don’t know how the people of color in your community identify—that is that the 
percentage might be wrong. Yes I agree that it would be good to get the 
percentage right, and to use self-identification.

And I agree that naming lots of types of diversity is good and humor is good.

But ignoring whether people are white or black or hispanic or south east asian, 
etc., in my experience is code for “we are white and we try not to notice 
difference”. 

And in my experience the larger percentage of folk of color, and folk who are 
queer, and women, and people with disabilities, prefer that we *notice and 
appreciate* how we are different, rather than making generalize in the idea 
that people who are different are all the same….

It also matters what your goal is. I’d say if you are trying to market, and 
hope to reach people of color, its good to be explicit as to whether there are 
some in your community, nad that you noticed. If that’s not the goal…then 
perhaps you’ll want something different.

But of course, you don’t need the general answer, you need to know what the 
people of color in your community want in the description of themselves. So I 
recommend asking them.

(In direct answer to your question we describe our [almost all white] community 
as diverse in class, sexual orientation, and family style, I think. As part of 
marketing I insisted that 25% of our photos included people of color because, 
well, that’s the law in real estate. I got a lot of flack for that. As I did 
when I sold real estate advertising professionally.)

-Liz
(The Rev.) Elizabeth M. Magill
www.ecclesiaministriesmission.org
www.mosaic-commons.org
508-450-0431




> On Sep 11, 2016, at 12:57 PM, 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
> 
> 
> 
> 
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