Mediator Musings: DEI + B + J
By: Sara Barnes
This month I was going to write about a common action, The Wave. Or it was going to be about Groundhog Day. Or the complexity of a seemingly simple concept, Self-Determination. I’ll get to writing about these and other ideas another time. This month, though, the larger world has intervened; the tide of recent events has become a tsunami; the issues can’t be overlooked. So, I am writing about the concepts of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion + Belonging + Justice, because of what is happening in the news.
CRASH
When I joined the Committee against Racism, Anti-Semitism, Sexism and Heterosexism, CRASH, it was the early 1980s. My lifespan had occupied a remarkable period of expansion of human rights and equality. The civil rights, women’s, anti–Vietnam War and gay pride movements had been the backdrop for my youth. The brilliance of the civil rights activists, as replicated by many other advocacy groups using media, public demonstrations, and popular culture, had taken hold in our imaginations. We believed an end was in sight for discrimination of all kinds. I figured this expansion toward a better world would just continue throughout my life. My grandchildren would not know the divisions that I had grown up with.
It’s painful to remember that in the 1990s I still had to buy children’s books and color in the skin hues to have racial representation for my teaching. Yet soon thereafter, multicultural books became the norm. Around that same time, children were still being regularly removed from the care of their gay parents—because of sexual orientation discrimination. Yet within a decade, gay rights and same-sex marriage took hold. An acquaintance who used a wheelchair advocated throughout her short life for curb cuts in the urban landscape to accommodate; it’s the law now. Looking back over these forty-odd years, I can appreciate that huge injustices looked farther off in the rearview mirror in each of my passing years.
Terminology
Throughout my life, terms such as equality, affirmative action, multiculturalism, intersectionality, and identity were useful to describe the steady move toward respect for all people. Over the last decade, these broad concepts became known as “DEI”—Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Throughout the media, academia, corporate world and communities, DEI became a shorthand with various uses. Let’s look at each word.
Diversity: Not that long ago, historically, the term “person” in the US vernacular would imply white men. The idea that all genders, ethnicities, skin colors and cultures should have voices and power at all levels is what the word “diversity” has come to mean. By “Diversity” we are referencing decision-making, expansive approaches and openness, awareness and an invitation to a wide range of cultures and experiences.
Equity: This is another catchall term that evolved to contrast with historically elitist access. Equity is meant to be aspirational so that all people are respected for their contributions and have additional support if they historically have been marginalized. By “Equity” we mean the treatment of all people in a fair, just and impartial manner. It’s different from “equality,” which means providing the same to everyone. Equity recognizes that people don’t start from the same place, and that imbalances need to be acknowledged and adjusted.
Inclusion: Deriving from a history of exclusion, this term is useful in casting a wider and expansive scope so that all people have opportunities to participate in all aspects of society.
By “Inclusion” we mean the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.
Read the full version of this Mediation Musings essay here.