Why do multicultural GLOs/organizations exist?

[preciousjeni]

We've seen many, many threads that ask this question and have it answered, but I wanted to see a thread that is easily searchable.

Why were multicultural organizations started? What is the purpose of multicultural organizations?

Feel free to offer your comments, positive or negative.

Multicultural GLOs did not start in an environment in which membership, in the current GLOs, was unavailable for "multicultural people." We recognize this. We have a different purpose altogether.

We are not here because we were rejected by our desired organizations, nor are we here to hurt other orgs - and we certainly do not exist because we believe that other organizations are not open to diverse membership!

How audacious it is to me for some to assume that we discourage people from checking out ALL GLOs to find their match, simply because we "think" that other GLOs are discriminatory. As a general rule, this is not the case.

We were started by and for multiculturally-minded people. If you want to join an org that caters to needs of all people and actively works toward equality across the board, you can find that in a multicultural organization.

Other organizations do offer those qualities, but multicultural orgs are set apart in that they exist with the primary function of promoting multiculturalism. In theory, even if a "multicultural" organization were all-white/black/latino/asian/etc. but the members worked toward equality of ALL people, the organization could potentially be considered multicultural.

If, however, the thrusts and foci of that organization were primarily directed at a particular interest, that organization by definition cannot be "multicultural." It can have multicultural membership but it cannot be a "multicultural organization."