Efforts to support diversity and inclusion are some of the most important work we can undertake. But it has to be done right or it will backfire and cause immeasurable harm to all communities, especially those it claims to help. Especially when "social justice" has a political agenda, the outcome is often division and resentment rather than community and meaningful dialogue.
In schools, the issue is especially fraught, as many institutions that should be educating children have put academics on the back burner and are instead teaching them to analyze their peers based on race, and on whom is oppressing whom. We need to get beyond seeing everyone as part of the oppressor/oppressed dichotomy. We need to stop making judgments about people based on the color of their skin. We need to see people as individuals rather than inseparable from racial groups.
My piece on this topic is featured as half the "Debate of the Week" in NEWSWEEK. Read it here. And also check out the other side as well, from Pamela Denise Long -- also a great essay with important points.
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