LIVE UNITED Y’All!

by Judy Schroeder

If there were only one lesson that I have taken away from my teachers in the civil rights movement, it is the great charity and faith that believes real pride will welcome diversity.  Not “chauvinism,” which is that need to place yourself and one world view on top of all others. Legitimate pride builds real dignity and the confidence to keep working for justice and fairness.

It may seem odd, but I think the more I appreciate the sacrifices, coincidences and privileges of my own background, the more I’m able to listen to and learn something from the point of view of people who seem very different.

It’s a lesson I was actually taught by my first role models in the civil rights movement. African-American men and women, who raise their children with a strong sense of pride in who they are, inoculate those young people against fear and prejudice and small-mindedness.

Real pride welcomes diversity in thought and cultural expression because it prepares us to engage!  Seems like a conversation more of us should get into in these times when so much fear and blame is allowed to divide us.

Here’s a couple of thoughts from Metro United Way’s handbook:

di-ver-si-ty: (d-vurs-t,d-) n. pl. di-ver-si-ties: the quality of being different or unique at the individual or group level. This includes work style, parental status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, skin color, language, age, mental and physical abilities – and more. Even when people appear the same on the outside, they are different.

In-clu-sion: (n-klzhn) n.: a strategy to leverage diversity. Diversity always exists in social systems. Inclusion, on the other hand, must be created. In order to leverage diversity an environment must be created where people feel supported, listened to, and able to do their personal best.

How do you welcome diversity?

Advocacy, General diversity, inclusion, inclusiveness

By Angela Champion

This time of the year, most likely because of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and African American Heritage Month, we hear a lot about diversity and inclusion. We hold community events on the topic or discuss diversity in the workplace and in our schools. I think most of us know what diversity means – usually it means something about race, ethnicity, gender, and all of those demographic categories we are familiar with. We think of ideas of cultural competence and multiculturalism. But, what is this other word we hear attached, almost as a contraction: inclusion?

What does it mean to be inclusive?

If you love Wikipedia like I do, you might run across entries referring to including individuals with phsyical and intellectual disabilities. But that doesn’t tell you how to be inclusive. More Googling will perhaps mention having gender neutral language – very hard to do in the English langugage without sounding just plain weird.  Let’s just say that for me, “Congressperson” does not roll off the tongue.

For me, inclusion refers to intentionally respecting all members of society. For others, it means being overly politically correct. For me, it means being conscious of not only words we KNOW portray negative stereotypes, but rethinking how sticks and stones aren’t the only things that really hurt people.  Words like gay and retarded. Or anything that is really an insult to a group…

So, I ask you to consider this quote (and I would love to know if anyone out there can find who the author is…):

Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character;
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

What does inclusion mean to you?

General diversity, inclusion

In honor of Black History Month, Making Connections Louisville is inviting the youth of our community to the Making Connections Youth Film Festival, which will screen award winning films made by youth Network members. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the filmmakers and learn how to create their own film projects.

The screenings will take place every Friday in February from 4-6pm at our very own Metro United Way building located at 334 East Broadway. Stop by and meet our future leaders, have snacks, and participate in discussions for the following:

Civil Rights: February 6 & 27

Don’t Fall for the Okey Doke & My Hood: February 13

Young Black Voter: February 20

For more information, please visit http://www.makechangetogether.org/youth

Hope to see you there!

General Black History Month, diversity, film festival, inclusion