Today, January 15 is the actual birthday of our great leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Americans started in 1986 to honor Dr. King’s birthday as a national holiday; and recently the observance of this national holiday designated to be “A Day of Service.” Dr. King always insisted on serving people from all races and ethnicities and from all walks of life. Enjoy this holiday while dedicate a bit of your time helping others–in any shape or form. Peace, Dr. Leo Parvis
Kris Jenner is an experienced & media-savvy PR person. She wouldn’t have been able to create, or help her daughters create, their huge profitable brand otherwise. So she should know better than to use the phrase “Indian-Giver,” in her answer to reporters’ questions about whether or not daughter Kim should give back her two-million dollar diamond engagement ring. Because I do think she is smart enough to know better, the cynic in me wonders if she said it deliberately to deflect attention from Kim’s situation, thereby also bringing the attention around to her own just-released book? The timing of the whole thing is pretty remarkable & to her benefit!
By using this racist phrase, she does give us the opportunity to educate others about this phrase which is a racial slur to Native Americans in this country by intimating that all American Indians take their gifts back. One popularly-accepted theory is that this phrase comes from early settlement times of Europeans in America, when Native Americans engaged in transactions gave gifts that were actually intended to be used as a trade for goods & services, or at least they expected a gift back of equal value. When the Europeans took the gifts and gave nothing back to the Native Americans, they wanted their “gifts” back. Over time this evolved to have a negative meaning that Native Americans could not be trusted.
Please people, be smart & respect the sensitivity of Native Americans to this phrase & don’t use it, period! Let’s hope Kris Jenner has the grace to apologize for her caviler use of this racist phrase…
Dr. Leo Parvis, the founder of National Diversity Day, is the key note speaker on a nationwide webcast celebration of National Diversity Day for SuperValu on October 7. He is also having a radio interview on the same day at 10 am with Exchange Radio Online out of Washington D.C. The interview will cover the creation of National Diversity Day and honoring differences during October, Diversity Awareness Month.
I am sorry that some DWTS fans are giving Chaz Bono a hard time; I think he is brave to put himself out there as the first transgender star to compete on Dancing with the Stars. I hope though that he doesn’t feel exploited by the show producers; you know darn well that they knew he was going to create controversy when they invited him to join, leading to lots of free publicity, like this post! I think Chaz Bono seems like a nice guy, I hope he is very sucessful on the show and hangs in there! I am also glad he is paired up with Lacey Schwimmer, she’s young, fun, talented, and I believe open-minded enough to support him and strong enough to weather the extra attention. Good luck Chaz & Lacey!
By diversity intern Amanda Wolfbauer
If you’ve ever been to a wedding, you’ve probably noticed that the feeling of love and happiness that emanates from the new couple is quite contagious. Regardless of the setting, the people involved, or the traditions, you can’t help but feel that wedding bliss when you go to a wedding. Love and happiness are the things that bring us together, no matter our different religions or mindsets.
While watching/taking part in a beautiful wedding, most people probably don’t realize the different traditions the couples use and embrace during their wedding. While they may all seem very similar: big, poofy dress, lots of guests, vows, toasts, dancing, and plenty of tasty food; every couple’s wedding is a little bit different. Weddings are a great example of people celebrating their heritage and uniting two different ones. For one person, a typical wedding might take place in a Catholic church, be followed by some rice throwing, and then dancing the night away. While another person’s might involve a deep red wedding dress and some spicy Indian food.
Every person brings something special and unique about themselves to their wedding, and it’s interesting to watch that coincide with their spouse’s traditions and values. A marriage between a devout Catholic and Jew might have certain compromises like stepping on the glass and having the groomsmen wear yarmulkes, but using traditional Catholic vows and having a priest instead of a Rabbi. Weddings truly are a perfect example of how we can overcome our biases and prejudices and compromise for the sake of love and just having a good time.
Next time you go to a wedding, pay attention to the little details that stand out to you, taking note of things that you normally wouldn’t have at your wedding. Find out the meaning of stomping on a glass, wearing a red dress, wearing a white dress, or having the maid of honor shattering a vase. You might learn something new and exciting from the traditions you see at a wedding, so it’s a good idea to pay attention. Weddings are rich in culture and heritage, and they’re just further proof that the language of love is universal.
By diversity intern Amanda Wolfbauer
It’s now almost September, and even though it’s still steaming outside, it’s almost time for the kids to go back to school. School can be both exciting and scary. It’s fun to go back and see your friends, learn new things, and get lots of fun back to school stuff, but school isn’t always a piece of cake. It can be stressful to be surrounded by people different from you who you need to learn to accept even if they don’t accept you. That’s why supporting diversity and embracing differences should be at the front of everyone’s minds during the back to school period.
It’s important not only to maintain your identity and strong self-esteem as the new school year begins, but also appreciate other people’s identities. If you’re a parent reading this, I recommend you help support your child’s identity. It can be as simple as getting them a cool new notebook or lunchbox that can be used as a conversation starter with kids. Or, to ease them back into reading in school, you can have your child read books with positive messages that tell them its okay to be unique and to appreciate others. Some great children’s books that deal with diversity include the Dora the Explorer books and the All of a Kind Family book series, among others.
It’s also important to keep this message going throughout the school year. You can do little things like putting an encouraging note in your child’s lunchbox in the morning, rewarding them periodically with little gifts for their independence and progress at school, or making their favorite, albeit crazy, dinner combination one night. These things may not seem like they’ll help kids embrace themselves and others, but any sort of encouragement goes a long way. And as I always have, and always will say, lead by example. Treat others in a positive way, be confident, and be a positive role model for your kids. Back to school can be really scary, but with a little help it can be a lot of fun.
I’m different than the average kid, while most kids try playing soccer, basketball, tennis, etc., I did only dance and gymnastics. I started at the age of three with both, along the way dropped gymnastics, and now 13 years later I am still dancing. What I love about dance is the fact that with just one movement you can tell a whole story. One of my teachers once told me that when you dance you should be telling the story of the song so well that if the music turned off people could imagine the lyrics. Some dancers choose to focus on just the outside appearance of their dance moves, which is great and they are still beautiful dancers, but something seems to be missing when you watch them. They are more like figurines, than dancers with soul.
This concept is relatable to diversity in so many ways. To start with I believe there are two types of people when it comes to diversity, those who just see what’s on the outside and those who also see what is on the inside. It is important in both dance and diversity to see both the outside and inside. You should see the moves in dance and see the person in diversity. How a person looks can show you who they are. That doesn’t mean you should make stereotypes out of what you see, but you can learn from what you see. Jewelry is a great example of this. Usually the types of rings people wear, charm bracelets, and the stones they wear all tell you about what that person is like. I know assumptions are bad but if a person has a wedding band there is no doubt that they are either married, pretending to be married, or a widow.
While the outside is important, the inside is even more important. The inside is where you can learn the significance of their skin tone or of the charm they have on their bracelet. Without the inside, all you are ever going to know about that person is the things they can express with a movement, and while this can be a lot, this is not everything. Going off of movements though, so much can be expressed about a person with the slightest of movements. Just like with dance, how a step can create a story, a movement can create a person. Tucking their hair behind their ear may mean their nervous where as a playing with an engagement ring can scream “ask me about it!” A confident person strides ahead with long steps and head held high, where a less confident person might move more slowly, head down, with shuffled steps. Once you start to take notice of people’s movements it’s amazing what you can learn.
What does diversity mean to you?
How has it effected your life in a positive or negative way? Please share your diversity-related stories, thoughts, & messages with us and our readers at our new site www.diversitymessages.com. Prefer to share a picture that represents how diversity looks to you? Go to our www.diversitypictures.tumblr.com page instead. How ever you want to share your diversity experience, through the written word or a picture, we look forward to hearing from you!
I know that when it comes to diversity you shouldn’t focus on the looks of a person, but one thing I find very interesting about people is scars. Scars don’t just magically appear overnight, well some do and you question how you got them, but most have a story behind them, a reason why they’re there. That’s why I love them. When someone asks you “how did you get this scar?” you know the exact story of what happened when you got it. You have probably told this story a million times before, but you don’t mind telling it again. They also make you who you are today. Yes, they may have only changed you in the slightest bit, but they did change you. That’s what I love about them, the fact that something that once caused you pain is almost like a storybook now.
People always say looks don’t matter, but scars are proof that they do. An example of a scar I have that people always ask about is a long thin one on my left shoulder. In my group of friends it is widely recognized that my friend’s dog Rufus is a scary dog. Once you’re in the house for a bit he’s fine and an extremely lovable dog, but when you first arrive to my friend’s house you better prepare yourself for him. One of the times I went to the house I had just walked through the door and shut it when Rufus came barreling out of the living room and jumped straight towards me. We are talking on hind legs and the same height as me. His paw landed on my shoulder and made a nice long cut on it. Mine is not the only scar from Rufus and my friends and I like to compare our Rufus scars. It’s so much fun to look back at the time and tell the story. It may have only changed how I walk into my friend’s house, but that’s a difference in my life. Sometimes scars are emotional scars you can’t really see, but they can have as just as much of an impact in the way they change a person. Scars are unique to the person who has them, just like people, they may look the same, but their story may be completely different.
Anoka-Hennepin County School District is being sued by several students over their policy on LGBT students. Their policy according to the plaintiffs prevents staff from protecting vulnerable students from bullying and perpetuates a hostile environment for LGBT students. The district counters that argument by saying that since LGBT is such a controversial subject they have to keep their staff neutral and that the policy is in place for talk about LGBT and is not in place to allow bullying of the LGBT students. The plantiffs allege that they endured slurs and were stabbed with pencils, pushed into walls, shoved into lockers and even urinated on by fellow classmates because of real or perceived sexual orientation. It will be interesting to see how this case ends up because it is such a hot topic currently.
