diversity journals - 2nd half (18 short entries)

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Journal – First half entries Professor notes in red – some are too short and not reflective

29th August 2016

A video about Jane Elliot started by dividing her class by eye color; blue eyes and brown ones. On one day the students with brown eyes were given certain privileges and praised while the other group was made to feel inferior. The treatment was interchanged the following day. Elliot realized that the children who were made to feel to feel inferior always performed worse in class. This video showed me that no one likes to be discriminated against or hated. Whenever I hear people in the world today talk about how they would like to have some people out of the country, and I always think that they would change their opinion if they were put in the place of the communities being discriminated against.

31st August 2016

There is discrimination towards aged students when they are transferring credits. They are offered neither orientation nor the in campus accommodation. The adults are not also given credits for the years of life or work experience in many colleges taking them longer than necessary to complete their degree courses. These are unfair policies against the adults because they should be compensated in terms of credits for the relevant work and life experience that they have had before joining a college or university. (TOO SHORT)

2nd September 2016

In the US today, I read about an article saying it was estimated that women in full-time employment are paid just about 80% of what men in the same position. Female physicians, for example, earn about 71 percent of what male physicians earn while lawyers earn about 82 percent. Lack of equal pay is a form of discrimination on the basis of sex, women should have the equal rights and benefits as all men. Besides, employers should try to pay women the same in the workplace because they do the same amount of work. It is wrong to pay people doing the same kind of work differently because of their sexual orientation. As a woman myself, we should protect ourselves by express our concerns to the various employers and public on the same issue.

5th September 2016

The American with Disabilities Act states that an employer should not discriminate against workers with disabilities. An employer should also provide a reasonable accommodation for an employee with disabilities as long as the needed accommodation does not cause undue hardship to the employer. People should not discriminate those with disabilities especially when their disabilities are not severe so as to warrant preclusion in employment. Instead, I think employers should take on people with disabilities because many of them have the skills which they have learnt in school. Accommodation for them most of the time usually involves just listening and may not involve an additional cost. (NOT REFLECTIVE)

7th September 2016

The most interesting topic presented today was on the desegregation of the bathroom. This was based on the question of whether Gavin Grimm, a 16-year-old transgender boy should be allowed to use the men’s room in his school. This is the case especially where there are traditional open locker rooms. The matter is a never before heard issue which brings the war on gender inclusiveness to a whole new level. It is gender inclusive vs. bodily privacy. (TOO SHORT AND NOT REFLECTIVE)

9th September 2016

According to research conducted by the Pew Research Institute, six in ten black people in the US view racial relations as bad whereas the white people are usually split in half between those who think that relations are good against those who think that they are bad. The public views about racial relations today show that they are worse today than they were today compared to the relations for much of the 2000s. It is quite unfortunate that racial relations are not as good given the fact that there has been a black president in the US for the last eight years. Having a black president was seen to be a step towards better racial relations. There was a lot of hope for equality and lack of prejudice towards the races in the United States. A lot more changes need to be done to improve racial relations.

September 2016

I read about a research, it showed that 16% of regular characters on broadcast programming are black and only 40% of the blacks are women (Lacy, 2015). Arab characters have also been cast as criminals more often compared with Asian, Latino and black while White are the least to be cast as criminals. The 10 pm prime is more diverse than the 8 PM prime; this is not reflective of the needs of the youth who are living in a more diverse age and look for diversity in their programming. In my opinion, there is an obvious discrimination on TV cementing the racial bias in the country. This can be taken either as the media reacting to demands of the public or just portraying the state of the society.

14th September 2016

Blacks are more likely than whites to say that they have experienced unfair treatment because of their race. The black power movement is meant to address the problem of political, economic and cultural discrimination. Black people with light skin tones enjoy an equal treatment compared to the blacks with darker skin tones. I feel like it is important for more to be done to get rid of such prejudice. Such misconceptions have led to racial profiling where black people are more likely to be seen as criminals and some denied employment because they are not seen to be as smart. (TOO SHORT)

16th September 2016

An article about Delaney Robinson accused Allen Artist of rape but claims to have been treated with disrespect and inordinate delay. She claims that the University has not taken any action against the accused and she continues to be tormented every day that she sees him in the university and that the university cannot take action unless pressured to do so ("North Carolina's Allen Artis, accused of sexual assault, turns himself in", 2016). The case of Delaney Robinson is an example of the lack of mechanisms by institutions to protect victims of sexual abuse. The university seems to encourage inaction by keeping the accused in school despite the serious allegations. The accused ought to be suspended for a time before the determination is made by a court to protect the victim from further anguish.

19th September 2016

Recent hot topic regarding US election on the new president, Donald Trump has been known as a supporter of the controversial racial profiling by the police. Trump has also come up with an idea of building a wall between the US and Mexico to discourage the flow of immigrants. The measures highlighted by Trump may be seen to enhance security, but at the same time they will promote racial discrimination and intolerance. Donald Trump is taken by many as being a candidate who is intolerant towards Muslims, Hispanics and Black people. Some of his supporters have come out as racist and sexist, one of them has been shown saying that black people should be put back in the fields. These notions seem to fuel intolerance.

21st September 2016

I read an article about this guy named David Hall prefers losing his job to watching a 17-minute training video provided as part of training towards having an inclusive environment. The video was about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender diversity at their workplace ("Man willing to lose job over 17-minute diversity video", 2016). His stand on the matter seems controversial because he cites a case where minorities are not accommodated yet he has refused to watch a video that is expected to address an issue of minorities. He asks for a religious consideration, but I think this is still controversial because he does not also want to accommodate others. (TOO SHORT)

23rd September 2016

Group presentation in class about white privilege involves being able to assume that the books you use will have characters with the same race as you, assuming your failures will not be attributed to the fact that you are white and not having to worry about being discriminated against almost daily (Lacy, 2015). It is very disturbing to see others being treated unfairly mostly because they are not white. It is sad seeing that everything they do will be attributed to their race at some point. It is about time that white people come out strongly to support social change and be agents of justice and social healing.

28th September 2016

Now I learned that the skin color among Latinos falls on a wide range. There are white Latinos of European descent and the black Latinos who are of an African descent. Some of the dark skinned Spanish speaking people are African Americans who have intermarried with Hispanics. These intermarriages led to having dark-skinned people who speak Spanish but are not Hispanic. They are usually discriminated against and assumed to be Hispanic. This is because there is no clear divide between the two. I feel that we should have lot of awareness on the same and the dark Hispanics distinguished from the Spanish-speaking African Americans. (NOT REFLECTIVE)

30th September 2016

Hillary Clinton seems to have a resolve not to use her gender as a political ladder to the White House. She sends a strong message to the country that she does not like being viewed through the gender lens but as a strong contender for president. If she wins, she stands to be the first female president. The candidacy of Hillary sends a strong message that women can also make it big in politics. She also communicates that using feminism is not the only way to get your way but through hard work and resolve one can prove their worth. (TOO SHORT and not REFLECTIVE)

3rd October 2016

A company uses competency and skill set as the basis for performance evaluation. Leadership involves helping an individual to get the experience necessary at the same time giving equal reward and compensation. To promote diversity, the minority groups present in an organization should be given a chance to share their thoughts on a certain strategy. An inclusive consultative leadership brand helps to achieve this. Diversity helps bring in new ideas. (TOO SHORT)

5th October 2016

I remembered someone talked about old people are seen as being unable to perform daily activities and carry on with life normally. For example, in TV shows, the old people are shown as careless individuals who are dumb and cannot make sense of most things, especially technology. Old people are also discriminated against when it comes to beauty and bodily strength. We shouldn’t treat older people that way, it is wrong because some of the old people have a lot of experience and would add a lot of value to whichever area they work in. in a company, an old person will be best placed because they can be able to use their experience to guide the company to a brighter future. It is unfortunate that people grow up with ageing discrimination inside them from the start.

10/10/16

Leaders face a lot of struggles in their daily work. They worry about the results that they table and the future of their companies. These usually come with a lot of pressure on the leader. Diverse leadership has been seen to enhance financial information, improve employee productivity and consequently lead to greater profits. This is fueled by the fact that diverse leadership usually attracts diverse employees who bring with them a lot of innovative solutions. The presence of minorities in a company also helps promote the image of the company.

7th October 2016

I remembered a video about a black girl in her testimony shows the attitude that exists towards black people and how it affects even the younger generation. There is also a common belief that there is a majority of black people in jail, not because of racism but because of the shortcomings within the African American communities. Black people make up around 40% of the prison population. This situation is worrying and continues to exist because measures to reduce the likelihood of crime among black people are not enough. If the young girl’s father is taken to jail, she might not get a good education or benefit growing up in a stable family setting increasing chances of her being involved in crime.

12th October 2016

Another team presented about Asian American. I learned that there are many stereotypes about Asian Americans. Some say that they cannot drive or couldn’t speak proper English. Some also think Asian Americans are all doctors and know martial arts. Asian Americans are referred to as a model minority because they are associated with good traits such as hard work, obedience, and smartness. I was impressed on how Eugene from BuzzFeed, who is a video producer beats this stereotype by being in an industry which is not traditionally Asian and smoking pot in college earning him the term “cool Asian.”

14th October 2016

Today’s class discussion about change management that helps to see how one can work their way from the stereotypes and prejudice towards real change in the way they view diversity in the workplace and society. The change involves sensitization and exposure. People should be sensitized on the need of understanding other people and respecting their ways. At the corporate level, companies should take in a more diverse workforce and also improve on the existing inequalities such as unequal pay for women. Besides, I think current employees should also be educated on how to embrace diversity.