Decades ago I return to complete my college degree in Business and decided I would take a class in one of my favorite topics in multicultural studies. It was a way for the university to address the beauty of difference.
The professor had silently taken 15 minutes to write on the “chalkboard” various words with no instructions. While parts of the “chalkboard” were still empty he had asked students to fill in the gaps with any words that came to their minds, and many of us did.
Suddenly, he asked for volunteers to participate in an exercise which he would later explain - after you have raised your hand. He then proceeded to use an empty side of this large “chalkboard” to write down different nationalities, and he assigned each volunteer a nationality. He or she was to only use the words that would describe what was in their hearts from the words provided on the “chalkboard” regarding each nationality.
No one was to say a word - nor judge anyone for their brutal honesty until the entire exercise was completed. As we continued, the atmosphere became dense, some were agitated, and others were laughing. The exercise had certainly revealed some of our deepest feelings, thoughts, and secrets.
In the end, we learned that regardless of how colorblind we think we are the entire class suffered from racism. And, how we reviewed diversity was influenced by many variables. If you, and I are brutally honest we all suffer from some degree racism.
