Connection Between Equality And Diversity

Moving from Los Angeles to Chicago for my dad’s work left me marred with a longing for year-round sunshine, palm trees, and mountainous horizons – things that most Midwesterners can’t even imagine. As a Korean and Caucasian, I leave people confused with which racial slurs to throw at me (“white rice” is the most clever one yet). In first grade, my parents pulled me from school to teach me how to think for myself through homeschooling. Ironically, it was with this same sentiment that I applied eight years later to Chicago Hope Academy, another place where I’d be different. As a sophomore transfer, I was unfamiliar with rappers like Drake, Eminem, or Tupac everyone around me praised. I wasn’t used to words like “finna,” let alone the Spanish spoken by my soccer teammates as I was the only Asian-Caucasian in the student body. But at this time in my life, I realized that you learn the most about yourself when you're surrounded by those who are different from you. Several years later, my closest friends include an avid atheist (and former Buddhist), the sixth best soccer player in Illinois, and a survivor of fatal heart surgery who shouldn’t be alive – I couldn’t find a more diverse community of

I believe that through the many experiences I have had as a member of organizations that provide service to others and raise awareness of diversity and social justice issues in addition to my own personal experience as a Chinese American I can be an asset to DePaul University. These experiences have given me a desire to continue being involved in promoting the importance of diversity, pride in one’s ethnicity, and doing what I can to help end racism and hunger. I feel that I can be a positive influence and my experience and continued service can help make the student body more powerful. I participated in Diversity/Multicultural Club at school. As a member of the Diversity Club I helped organize and participate in an international fair representing different cultures and ethnic groups through music, food, and art. In Diversity Club I write inspirational notes to students outside of the club and place them on student’s lockers to encourage them. I have

Not until my summer spent at North Carolina’s Governor’s School did I truly experience diversity in a student population. Growing up in Lincoln County, with a modest population of approximately 10,000, left me with the opportunity of meeting people who knew exactly who I was, who my parents were, whose class I was in, and were almost exactly like me. Furthermore, being exposed to this type of people never allowed me to hear new ideas in person, as I only heard what beliefs had been passed down from generation to generation. However, my Governor’s School experience lead me to meet so many new people my age who came from all different walks of life. It completely opened up my perspectives and convictions to how I approach people, carry myself,

“You are the whitest black girl I know”. Throughout my academic career these words have followed me. From a very early age my parents instilled a drive in me to always do my best and take pride in everything I do, because some people aren’t given the opportunity to do so. As a result, I naturally stood out from others who were not as driven. Growing up, I became ashamed about of my accomplishments and demeanor when nicknames such as “oreo” replaced the name my mother had given me because I didn’t act “black”. According to my peers, I was “dark on the outside and white on the inside.” because I “talked like a white girl” and “tried too hard in class”. I believe these undesirable circumstances have taught me the hard way to love myself.

Growing up in a predominately African American school district, I would go several days without ever being reminded of my racial identity. I was considered part of the majority throughout all of grade school. However, this all changed as I began to stray from my normal crowd and participate in academic enrichment and pre-medical programs. The very first time that I was reminded that I was the minority, and therefore inferior to many was when I attended a program called NYLF. The National Youth Leadership Forum allowed me to spend ten days at a medical forum with high school students from all over the world. When I arrived, I looked around and realized that out of about two hundred kids, only about fifteen looked like me. I also noticed that they had all congregated to the same area and had essentially secluded themselves. Determined not to stay in my comfort zone and expose myself to new things, I decided to sit at a different table. A few days into the program, several disappointing things became clear. I began to observe ignorant remarks, disapproving glares, and belittling attitudes from many of my surrounding peers. Admittedly, it did make me somewhat upset to know that so many felt that because I was a black girl, I did not deserve to be at this program. It became evident that many of my opinions, thoughts, and responses to activities were quickly discounted on most occasions. I wondered if I had made the wrong decision by branching off from my African American peers.

As a second-generation immigrant, I didn’t automatically fit in, especially in middle school. I was teased for my roots, with the phrase, “African Booty-Scratcher,” and the color of my skin, even by those of the same shade of skin as me. However, I didn’t think a thing of it; I was unaffected by their remarks because of the pride I have in who I am. My culture gives me my pride. It was tough to find my place in society until I realized that I wasn’t meant to just exist in society: I was meant to lead it. I have grown into a leader in my school and in my community, being truly reliable and taking initiative to do what is

Growing up I’ve always been surrounded by minorities including my family. Seeing their constant struggle led me to create the false idea that I would not amount to anything no matter how hard I tried due to invisible boundaries. It put me in a daze at some point in life until I matured and realized I am the only one holding myself back; so I climbed back up out of the hole I had dug for myself. It took a lot out of me but when that happened I was able to see the determination in my relative’s eyes and the refreshing charisma of my peers who knew what they wanted in life. I was so used to being looked down upon what I loved to do; I was looked down upon even by those who I loved calling my aspirations childish. My motivation nearly disappearing

Yes, I said it. These four words are coming from the mouth of a progressive, African American male that has lived in the South for all my life. A life where I’ve observed and challenged the inequities of ethnicity, gender and religion in multiple layers of leadership in Corporate America. And now, at the turn of the century as the demographics of our nation has become more and more diverse, so much so that many predict that by 2050, the United States will become a majority-minority (non-white) population, people are still calling for more diversity.

As a citizen of the United States who grew up undocumented and continues to hold this legal status, I have seen and felt the effects of being perceived and treated as “other” in our society. This experience coupled with the teachings from the many classes I have taken during my academic career (e.g., Youth Delinquency, Inequality, Race/Ethnic relations, Women’s Studies, American Indian Studies, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities) have provided me with a deeper understanding of what diversity and social justice means. In America, while there are many races and ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religious affiliations among other things, I do not believe we are diverse because the dominant ideology still dictates the status

The term equality and diversity is used to define the equal opportunities and human rights within the values of society. The meaning of this term holds all legal obligations for protection against discrimination of various characteristics; most commonly including gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, culture, race and ethnicity. Whilst protection from these forms of discrimination is integral, it is equally important to ensure that equality and diversity is reinforced in the workplace; equal opportunities is fundamental for professional practice. The meaning of equal opportunities is to ensure that all individuals are treated equally despite their character and their background, therefore avoiding any individuals being disadvantaged in their career due to judgmental, bias or prejudice opinions. For example, the ideal candidate for a position in the workplace should be decided upon the qualifications, knowledge and experience of the candidate, rather than placing a focus upon personal aspects that should have no negative effect towards performance in the workplace.

Since the very beginning, America has taken pride in representing equality and opportunity for all people, yet to this day the people of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community are still facing difficulties of inequality on a day to day basis. There have been many legal advancements in the last few years, but there is a lot of change that needs to occur for it to become a social norm. There are many different issues that the people of this community go and they will continue to go through until some major changes are made, but the hard part will be changing the social stigma that surrounds the homosexual and transgender community.

Diversity represents the “multitude of individual differences and similarities that exist among people” (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2013). It pertains to the host of individual differences that make all of us unique and different from one another. Diversity in an organization continues beyond hiring employees of numerous backgrounds, but involves embracing and empowering all minorities. Thankfully, globalization and strategic alliances have transformed business economies drastically to set up complex business environments. These environments include inter-cultural, inter-departmental, cross functional, and inter-disciplinary people working together, as a part of a large team, towards a common goal. The importance of these workgroups can be understood by the strategic role they play in determining organizational effectiveness. Workgroup diversity as a concept has caught the scholarly attention of researchers and academicians as many companies have expanded their businesses to new foreign territories. For the success of these new business ventures they seek greater local participation in their workforce, with respect to the people who are well-acquainted with the culture, ethic, local languages, tastes, preferences and other features unique to these new markets. This has eventually led to the establishment of people from different communities, ethno-socio-economic-politico backgrounds, and cultures to take part equally at a common platform.

In seeking to reflect on diversity, I recall a particular situation that made me feel excluded. In so doing, I will describe the experience and what it was like, how it made me feel and think, and what I eventually learnt from it.

Although I identify as white, I have spent a significant amount of time among our multicultural communities. In that time I have learned much about the cultures that make up our educational environment and the challenges that individuals within these groups face. These challenges vary from very minute microaggressions to alcohol-fueled racism. I believe that I can take what I have learned and the stories I have been given with me to help influence others in my future cohort.

Growing up as an African-American male, conceptualizing how I am perceived and who I wanted to be was a daily burden. Always being told to stand, look, speak and act in a specific way in order to not be viewed as a threat and to be successful rang in my ears each day I woke up until it became apart of my life. Being that I was raised on the south-side of Richmond, I was brought up around my fellow black children, however, I was sheltered away from understanding how they lived their life in order to keep me veering towards this clear-cut and defined persona.