Diversity in the SEC

[DrPhil]

Carnation, are you claiming to know what people are thinking at all times? Is there something wrong with noticing race? Race is not synonymous with racism and unfair treatment by others. Race, ethnicity, and culture have to do with group identifiers. I notice race and ethnicity when I twist-style my beautiful hair up at night.

We only know what people claim. There are adopted parents and parents of biracial children who invest a great deal of thought and time researching and teaching their children about race. They do this to educate themselves as well as to establish or reinforce a racial, ethnic, and cultural identity in their children. They do not stop doing this just because children seem uninterested or unappreciative. It serves a larger and longstanding purpose just like the NAACP black tie banquets I attended since childhood despite my absolute child boredom. There is nothing wrong with having an identity. Pretending it is possible to only have a "human identity" is usually a way to reinforce "white identity" that is being disguised as race neutral.

And with all due respect you don't know what your children are thinking and feeling just as you don't know how they interact with people when they are not in your presence. It is good that you took your kids to cultural events. Kids are kids so they will not understand and appreciate everything. Of course now that they are older your children will pretend to not care about race if they think you want them to not care because you have a multicultural household. However, as my college classmates who are Chinese and adopted by whites discovered when they left the confines of their parent's home, they had to research Chinese culture and understand why the world did not see them as white. They knew they looked different than the other white kids but did not learn the full extent (not the introductory version) of why until they got to college. I think that is a shame.

I think this is a good discussion to have when discussing GLO diversity. Adding a few nonwhites doesn't make you diverse. Adding tons of nonwhites but pretending no one notices race doesn't make your GLO diverse.

[carnation]

I know what my kids are thinking because they told me time and again, "Y'all can stop it now. We don't want to go to the Filipino dinners, the Japanese parades, etc. We want to play with our friends/go out with our boyfriends/ eat hot dogs and hamburgers and we never ever want to see another noodle."

We were the poster parents for learning about diversity, our children's cultures, putting up art and collecting things from their countries. In educating pre-adoptive parents, we told them this was important.

We've hosted 10 exchange students, most from our children's countries. Our children privately told us that they were glad they hadn't grown up in our students' birth countries; they liked America just fine.

And what do we have? Adult children who love to listen to country music (we don't!), joined NPCs and had a great time, date guys of whatever culture they want, in short--they're like anyone else.

And the only time I ever think about them being non-white anymore is when I think, "It would be wonderful to have that heavy, shiny, raven hair."