Metro Parents Weigh-in on Diversity Issues
 

as published in Metro Parent Magazine

By Donna Gundle-Krieg
   Does fostering an appreciation of diversity matter to you and your family? Or do you roll your eyes when you hear what some call "the D word"?
   As a parent, do you believe you should actively teach your children about diversity? Or do you feel you should let integration happen naturally, assuming people will mix to a healthy degree?
   Parents across the metropolitan Detroit area are definitely divided on these matters. Denise Derocher of Milford, a mother of two daughters in middle-school, had a negative reaction to the word "diversity."
   "I believe that if a person learns to look at others and love them for what they are on the inside, and not for what they look like, they will not need any diversity training," she said. "Diversity training is like a band-aid for not learning to love."
   But Shirley Stancato, president of New Detroit, a coalition of leaders dedicated to improving race relations, disagreed. "To tell me you are color-blind is an insult. You are not acknowledging me (as an African American) if you are not seeing color," she said. "If we don¹t embrace and understand other others¹ cultures, then we become extinct."
   Mary Burck of Farmington Hills, an artist and mother of a son in middle school, also believes that diversity training matters. "I was raised in an all-white town in the upper peninsula," she said. "We were always starved for cultural experiences. As a result, I feel there¹s racism and insensitivity up there because most people haven't ever been exposed to diversity."
   Burck argues that the earlier you expose children to different cultures, the better. "You have to make it a positive experience and reinforce how much people are the same," she said.
   Indeed, "We are more alike then unalike," writes Maya Angelou, renowned poet and national spokesperson for the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ). The NCCJ provides diversity training and experiences to businesses, churches and schools, including about 50 schools in the metropolitan Detroit area.
   Daniel Krichbaum, NCCJ-Detroit's executive director, expanded on Angelou¹s quote.   "Regardless of our similarities, in order to understand and respect our uniqueness, we need to know what makes us different," he said. "It is our differences that make us unique and give us value."
   Krichbaum added that this knowledge must be a two-way street. "For example," he pointed out, "we have stereotypes and prejudgments against Yoopers from the upper peninsula, too."
   Deanne Orlando, a Livonia elementary school teacher and mother of four teens, believes that even if we live in homogenous communities, we're staring at diversity every day. "Is my classroom diverse because it¹s a pleasant mix of cultures, or because I have cognitively impaired kids, gifted kids and resource room kids all in the same class?" she wondered.
   And what about different religions?
   Stancato  agreed with Orlando that people are diverse in many ways. "However, race is the toughest issue to deal with," she insisted. "The metropolitan Detroit area continues to be the most segregated area in the nation in terms of race, and this is costing us in many ways."

Why are we segregated?
   Demographic trends show that minority population growth and white flight is expanding in a ring pattern away from Detroit. Stancato maintains that this ring is caused because "white people flee from other cultures, which creates segregation."
   Doug Wilson of Oxford believes that segregation often exists simply because people naturally drift toward those who are like them. "People often find homes where they believe they will fit in, as well as, what they can afford," he said.
   James Jones a Pontiac factory worker and father of five agreed. "I¹d love to move my black family into a multi-cultural neighborhood, but I simply can¹t afford it."
   Kim Small of Highland, a mother of three teens puts a different spin on the issue. "Shared immigration experience, culture and language cause people to huddle together," she said. "This is not at all a negative experience. A non-diverse group helps give a family a support system. As many people are pulled away from extended family for employment reasons, the attachment to homogeneous groups is support for what was lost."
   Small added that those of similar backgrounds have always been drawn together for positive support systems, and notes that this initial assimilation was seen with the Poles in Hamtramck, the blacks in Paradise Valley, the Germans in Frankenmuth, and the Dutch in the city of Holland.
   Burck agreed that we tend to huddle together, and so has tried to get her son to invite people of other backgrounds over to play. "However, it seems like he always gravitates back to being friends with those who are the same Caucasian race he is," she said. "People just seem to be more comfortable being with others who look and act like them."
   However, she said she still believes "we need to get out of our comfort zones and stretch ourselves enough to have conversations and find common ground with people of other races. Sometimes schools, neighborhoods or workplaces may be plenty diverse, but each cultural group sticks to their own."
   As Krichbaum sees it, "Inclusion is as important as diversity itself. This means there is the sense that everyone has equal value, equal opportunity and equal say ‹ regardless of their background." The NCCJ defines an inclusive school culture as "one that works to affirm, not just tolerate, differences."
   Stancato added that to be inclusive, "We need to have race conversations. But people don¹t want to talk about race issues. You must have the tough conversations to move on."

Language barriers
   Burck suggested the biggest barrier to having these tough conversations is the fact that different races and cultures don't speak English very well. "I don't speak a second language, so it¹s awkward to start a conversation with someone from another country," she said.
  The number of Michigan residents who speak a language other than English at home increased by nearly 40 percent over the past decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The languages most commonly spoken in Michigan, other than English, are Spanish, Arabic and German. Of    9.3 million Michiganians age 5 and older, 8.5 million speak only English.
   Should we be learning other languages and teaching them to our children? Or should we simply insist that immigrants learn our language? Groups such as U.S. English, which advocates making English the official U.S. language, say outreach efforts should be curtailed. The organization believes that unless we're going to put things out in 300 languages, we should put our money and efforts towards teaching people English.
   But postal worker Jon Benk of Detroit, a father of two young adults disagreed. "I think it's increasingly important for people to understand the language of the global community," he said. "We must know other cultures and be able to speak their languages."

History and geography lessons
   In addition to teaching more about languages in our elementary schools, should we also teach our students more about the diversity of races and religions? Or should this be taught in the home? Can parents assume that the schools and the culture outside their homes will do it?
   "If you value diversity, you will teach it," said Stancato. "Parents don¹t let others teach their children the basics of living, so why should they let others teach their children about diversity? It absolutely has to go on in the home."  
     Wilson of Oxford agreed. "Diversity can be learned outside the home, but it takes an awfully insightful individual to form values different from the ones he was raised with," he said. "Accepting others comes more naturally to kids because they have no previously aligned judgment."
   Pauline Saroki, a public defender in Detroit of Chaldean origin, had these thoughts, "Those who live in all-white suburbs and raise their kids to believe that people who are not like them are not worthy of their consideration, make me sad. Perhaps it¹s not too late for their children. Unfortunately, these parents aren¹t going to be the messengers."
   Bonnie Lynch of Milford, a mother of two young children had a different opinion. She lived in diverse areas while growing up, and worked in Detroit her entire career. "I¹m totally against teaching diversity to anyone, especially in our schools," she said. "Instead, let¹s teach how we¹re all God¹s children and that inside we are all alike! Let's celebrate what we have in common."
But if parents don¹t address diversity issues, can tolerance and understanding be gleaned from outside sources?
   Krichbaum said there are many influences that determine how tolerant a person will be. "The NCCJ and other groups such as New Detroit have programs to help teach these values. The media also plays a big part. But just watching other cultures on television is not enough. People learn best face-to-face," he said.
   Denise Gundle-White, a Farmington Hills teacher, agreed that face-to-face contact is the best way to get people connected, and says that sharing experiences and relationships with those who are different from ourselves is the best way to learn diversity.
   "The mere opportunity my students have to know various other students is such a gift," she said. "Diversity is much more valuable when it just happens, rather than the typical idea of 'teaching' diversity lessons to a homogenous group."

Seek out cultural experiences
   If sharing experiences is the key to learning about differences, how can parents teach their children about diversity if they live in a segregated town and go to segregated schools? Benk suggested that people "go to events and festivals to learn others¹ cultures. "The metropolitan area is full of such festivals where you can learn about the food and music," she said.
   Stancato added that there are certain metro-Detroit destinations that are very diverse. "When I go to the Detroit Zoo and see the mix of people there, I think Œthis is how it should be everywhere.¹" she said. She recommends parents bring their children to places that celebrate culture, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of African American History.
   Krichbaum agreed. "There is more to education than academics," he said. "We must teach our children about the world." He believes that students who attend schools with one ethnic group are disadvantaged when going on to college and the workplace. "While there has been progress in workplace diversity, most of our neighborhoods and schools are still not diverse," he said.

Diversity in business
   Krichbaum went on to point out that, "companies are attracted to communities where cultures can assimilate and people can get along. To increase business growth in this area, Michigan should be attractive to those from across the world. There are reasons businesses and people choose communities such as Farmington and Ann Arbor. These towns are considered desirable places to live because of their rich cultural diversity."  
   Stancato said that the lack of diversity and inclusion in most neighborhoods has caused a Michigan Brain Drain. "We're losing young people at an alarming rate," she said. "One reason is segregation. Young people want diverse communities."  
   Wilson noted that in metro Detroit, the younger crowd definitely has a leg up on the older crowd in regard to diversity. "As borders break down in our already well-developed push to globalize, diversity has taught many large international players of its importance in lost profits and mistakes," he said. "In business, it¹s a dog-eat-dog world. If you¹re not culturally sensitive, it can hurt you in too many ways to count."  
   Even in non-business jobs, diversity matters. Explained Saroki, "I am an American born Chaldean who has the privilege of living a very diverse life. My job as public defender gives me the opportunity to empathize with others of different cultures. It also requires that I do so."

Other costs of segregation
   Krichbaum believes that in addition to impacting business and jobs, diversity impacts our region in other important ways, too. "The further out we build, the more expensive it becomes, which creates a host of social infrastructure needs," he said. "If we spread out urban culture, we lose our urban core." He cited sprawl problems such as higher taxes to afford new schools, roads, businesses and communities.
   Stancato agreed. "The cost of segregation is that people pay," she said. "They pay more economically for houses, taxes and transportation, in addition to sacrificing the diversity experience."
   Those who live in segregated areas are not always happy about it. Milford's Derocher does not live in a multi-cultural area, and wishes her area had a greater variety of races. "I hope and pray that some day our world will look a lot more integrated," she said. "Until then, I think the best response is to teach love, not diversity."
   Farmington's Burck concluded, "the fact that many of us live in a segregated community is not really bad, just sad. People who choose to live somewhere because that place is all one race seem like they are missing out on one of the greatest joys of living."

‹ Donna Gundle-Krieg of Milford a freelance writer and mother of two, recently wrote and published From Desert to Detroit, a children¹s book about an Iraqi family who moves to Detroit to face many big city problems, including prejudice after 911.
   "I wrote the book to help educate older children and others on some of the complex international issues we face in 2004," she said. "Readers are drawn into the world of this family from another culture, and hopefully gain a better idea what it¹s like to be in their shoes."
   For more information, visit www.blitzkriegpublishing.com

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