Not Like Us

He hit the nail on its head!

There is an editorial in the Hartford Courant this morning, "‘Not like us’ – No, not the song by Kendrick Lamar, it is the mantra of haters" by Gary Franks former Connecticut Congressman.

God is our best example. He did not make people to be exactly the same. He made everyone “different.” Through the grace of God, everyone has specific gifts and talents. God believes in a diverse world as He made us all. But we all know this. If we had all men, all Adams, the world would not exist. Without diversity, we would perish as people.

Yet, it seems like the bad folks, for the sake of their own personal agenda, want to declare that God was wrong. They leave the impression by their actions that God made a mistake when He created a world made up of different people.

Like during the worst periods in world history, these bad folks genuinely believe that one group is superior and deserve white privilege, and the other group is all bad, or inferior, and do not merit good jobs. This absurd mindset or practice, if left unchecked, could bring us all down. If only white people were allowed to work in good jobs, the nation’s fiscal health would eventually crumble.

Let us take some examples. Once there was a guy, who, as an experiment, only ate at one restaurant and one kind of food. He did this for several weeks. If he did it for just a few years it would kill him. Heck, if you have steaks for every meal, you would not only have a very boring life, you would also have a short one. Our bodies need a balanced or diverse diet. Only babies can have a “one-food” diet – milk – and grow healthy.

This is something that I have been saying, so many businesses went down the tubes because of "Group think." IBM didn't see the PC coming... they were all mainframe people. KODAK did see the digital revolution,,, 

Yet today in actions reminiscent of the worst times in world history, we have folks who do not embrace anybody who is “different” or who represents a diverse group of people. For example, they want “Black jobs” only and elite colleges with fewer Black people. No diversity there. They use the sick belief that Black people do not merit anything else. They would even attempt to falsely place blame on “different” people for “their” failures.

With no quantitative data as proof, just anecdotal stories from like-minded folks to justify their hateful actions, they cynically rationalize a different conclusion for being against things and people who are different. These are terribly sad folks.

And yet it is also very ironic. These diversity haters decry diversity while at the same time they, white people in America, are truly diverse people. Yet they try to convince people of color that white people are just “white” people. No.

When one of IBM leading innovative can in to the big boss and said "I am going to transition!" in the land of the "pocket protectors" she was bummed rushed out the door. And this was after she co-developed a computer process that made breakthrough that makes modern computers possible. Later in life she was awarded the 2009 Computer Pioneer Award and made a Fellow of the IEEE one of the highest honors that they give!

The editorial went on...

3. The vast majority of people only want what they feel would be best for them, their community, and the country. The 90%+ of white people do not have a racist bone in their bodies. It is like saying of the 12 apostles there was a Judas – an evil one, a guy who did not get it (but look at the harm Judas’s actions caused).

[...]

I demanded my polling results reflected my strengths and weaknesses with each group: (national size in millions of people) English 46.7, Germans 45.0, Irish 38.6, French 25.8, Italians 17.8, Polish 8.8, Scottish 8.4, (Jewish, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, Scandinavians, etc. were smaller in number). I was extremely strong with Italians and very weak with Germans – as an example. All these vastly different white people had distinct cultures.

Do you think bigotry entered the 2024 elections? Do you think that the fact that she was a woman turned away some voters from her?

Employee Benefit News writes in,

Is the anti-DEI trend actually hurting diversity efforts?

By   Paola Peralta

April 17, 2024

With terms like "anti-DEI" and "anti-woke" being coined by policy makers and business leaders, it may seem like the workforce is regressing when it comes to their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. But thankfully, that's not necessarily the case. 

More than two dozen anti-DEI bills have been introduced in state legislatures — nine of which have passed — since 2021, according to Axios. In addition, household names such as Lyft and Meta have targeted DEI-specific positions more than other jobs in company-wide layoffs. While it may seem like inclusion efforts are under attack, it's important to look at the bigger picture.

"What's actually happening is that we're redefining what DEI means for organizations," says Amy Mosher, chief people officer of software company isolved. "It's not just an initiative anymore; it's ingrained into businesses' cultures and it's never really going away as a result." 

In grad school for my MSW I wrote about what makes America great.

In Europe people married people from the neighboring towns which made for a homogeneous culture but in the United States we were the "melting pot" which cultures blended together! My father was 100% Italian my mother was mostly northern European.

Now the Republican party and Trump most cabinet members are ardent supporters are largely white  supremacist and Christian nationalist. Just like Germany in the 1930s.