Across the North Country there is a call for education on issues of Diversity and Inclusion. Why? Our classrooms are fairly homogenized and our neighborhoods look much as they did a generation ago. Tradition is strong in the North Country and we are proud of it.  We know who we are. Right?

 

Or do we? Your colleague may be married to a person of the same sex, may have adopted a child of color, may be struggling to look middle class while suffering in poverty. The same goes for the children in our classrooms and on our playing fields. And what happens when we send our children out from our small towns and our small town schools, into a diverse world. Do we have an obligation to teach them what they need to know about the wider world in order to succeed?

 

The people who have been running things in the US from the beginning are the same people who hold most of the power today.  This is called the dominant culture and their story is the one we all learn at school and across the country. Anyone who does not fit into that story has to fight all kinds of historical fears in order to be brave enough to speak up. Many folks feel overwhelmed by the rising number of voices calling out to be heard against the dominant story of white, male, straight, middle or owning class.  It’s truly bewildering. But bewilderment is not the same thing as repression and fear.

 

Have a mediated conversation about diversity and inclusion community wide.

 

Do a Deep Listening Project with your neighbors who feel they never had any power or that their power is slipping away

 

Have a Diversity and Inclusion training at your place of work, worship, community, or learning

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Workshop on Whiteness -- Let's NOT talk about Race!

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