‘Diversity’ is too shallow for real racial justice

What do Americans, particularly white Americans, mean by the term diversity?

For much of the past two decades, associate professor of sociology Sarah Mayorga has worked to find out.

For her book, Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic Neighborhood (UNC Press, 2014), Mayorga spent 18 months interviewing residents in the supposedly “integrated” neighborhood in Creekridge Park in Durham, North Carolina.

She came away with the conclusion that diversity was an ideology that enabled whites to only superficially commit to achieving social justice. “Diversity ideology dictates that intentions, as opposed to outcomes, are what truly matter,” she writes. It “does not demand that individuals take specific actions to promote inclusion or equity.”

In recent articles in Sociological Perspectives and American Behavioral Scientist, Mayorga has furthered her argument, deconstructing diversity ideology to expose its underlying assumptions and contradictions.

Here she speaks about diversity and what she sees as a better alternative for achieving racial justice:

The post ‘Diversity’ is too shallow for real racial justice appeared first on Futurity.

from Futurity https://ift.tt/3nqs0fM