Where is America “at” with respect to diversity?
The 2008 Presidential election led many of us to believe that there is a widespread hope, even a longing, for a post-racial society. The incident between Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley in the summer of 2009 reminded us that confusion and uncertainty remains.
To me, the ongoing conversation about race in this country demonstrates two challenges that may thwart the progress that has been made. We have an inability to distinguish pluralism from diversity; and we have an intense aversion to diversity tension. Many Americans who think that they are comfortable with diversity are in reality comfortable with pluralism. So what is the difference?
Pluralism is defined as the presence of multiple variations of an attribute. Diversity is defined as referencing both attribute and behavioral differences and similarities. In such case, the presidential campaigns of Senator Clinton and President Obama were milestones in pluralism. Their campaign successes broke racial and gender barriers and contributed racial and gender pluralism to the field of politics. But neither campaign brought much behavioral diversity to the arena.
In this respect, these candidacies can be compared to the hiring of Jackie Robinson, America’s first Black major league baseball player. Certainly, this represented a monumental milestone with respect to racial pluralism in baseball. However, it added little or no diversity to the game because Robinson brought few-if any-behavioral variations to the sport. He simply played the game better then most.
Why is it important to make this distinction? Because diversity tensions arise at the point in which the behavioral differences integral to pluralism surface. This tension is an anathema to many Americans, who have counted on political correctness to suppress or eliminate racism. Their insistence on avoiding diversity tension through political correctness has become the second key barrier to advancing racial progress.
This insistence became most evident in the speed and forcefulness with which those who played the race card were discredited. In a genuinely diversity comfortable society, such people would have been essentially ignored. Yet we pounced on the offenders with frenzy and fear, as if their deviations from political correctness would thrust our entire society into full-fledged race wars. Or, worse still, as if such indiscretions might require us to admit that our diversity progress is less than we had hoped.
Remember the reaction to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s racial pronouncements? President Obama followed the Reverend’s You Tube debut with a landmark speech that called for a different discussion about race. Yet most references to race since the You Tube event have been divisive and full of fear and anger. The incident between Dr. Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley being a case in point.
Clearly, if the American Experiment in diversity is to work, we must become more sophisticated about the accompanying tensions. Politically, the challenge is to acknowledge this tension, avoid the temptation to use it to divide, and seek to develop “ties that bind” even in the midst of gut-wrenching tension.
What is true for the nation is true within organizations as well. Diversity executives must become more reasoned and flexible in their responses to alleged acts of racism. They should certainly not tolerate these acts. However, they should tailor their responses to the consequences of the offending behavior, eschewing emotional outrage as the only viable response.
Diversity management – with its emphasis on making quality decisions in the midst of differences, similarities and related tensions – can help them to do so. It sharpens the focus on business objectives; thus helping to keep racism in perspective as a dimension along which people can be different and similar. It also provides a framework for making quality decisions in the midst of a difficult situation.
Dr. R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr., is the CEO of Roosevelt Thomas Consulting & Training (RTCT) and the founder of the American Institute for Managing Diversity. He has been at the forefront of developing and implementing innovative concepts and strategies for maximizing organizational and individual potential through Diversity Management. He is the author of Building a House for Diversity; Beyond Race and Gender; Redefining Diversity; and Building on the Promise of Diversity.
