Ever since 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' found its way into our language in sports, business, and everyday life, many of us 'feel' a sense of 'comfort' knowing that we have re-defined ourselves with a changing attitude and behavior with being 'up to date' with our changing times. The realities of the world in which we live, play and work, and the challenges that we have to navigate leads us to think about how we can 'diversify' our diverse clubs/teams so that we can establish a balance of harmony at our events, training, and when we gather for practices. I often hear people say, 'we are more diversified' or our team is 'diverse'. Well, now that we have some of the 'numbers' to show that a club/team is 'ethically, racially, culturally, etc.' diverse, what have you done for your club/team to ensure that the 'Diversity' you sought has/is now 'diversified'? Just because you have 'different faces' of color, culture, ethnicity, abilities, etc, what about the issues that occur within those same groups of people? I don't believe many people have advanced themselves in their thinking about this. What is happening in our 'own backyard' with regards to how do we study and understand 'diversifying the diversity' of our clubs/teams? The Bay Area has seen and learned about incidents where people of the same race, ethnicity, cultural, etc. background are NOT 'diversified' to respect each other. I saw a news report on NBC Bay Area recently about the East Indian culture and the ideologies of the 'caste system' that many have brought with them to the USA and this 'silent' ideology and practice is now showing up in the Bay Area. This is really nothing new. This and the ideologies from homogenous societies (and from the USA) have manifested itself here in the Bay Area for years, with the 'height' of it becoming prominent when Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and other big silicon valley tech companies were born. They brought with them a boom of many people from different countries (and from other parts of the USA) for great job opportunities with companies and sports teams touting themselves as 'diverse', but did not take into account the issues that would eventually come up that could and have in some respect cause issues for others within the same race, ethic, cultural or abilities, etc. background. How do we as a sports organization with clubs and teams start that discussion to resolve those issues? Unfortunately it may take years to 'resolve' because we are speaking of generations of practice of a racial, ethnic, cultural, or ableist 'system' that was born (here) or in another country and such practices 'silently' taught or brought here and imbedded with the people who believe in those systems or ideologies. Changing that to fit what we do for our own freedom (and in sports) in the USA is not, nor will be an easy task. What we can do, is to continue to have discussions about it and learn more about how something that generationally 'worked' in one Country (or the USA) for years, but may not 'work' with the generational shift currently happening in the USA. Especially if it becomes racism and discrimination within their own groups. Education is key to start the discussion to be familiar what those practices are and why it may not be OK to practice it here or to continue that practice if manifested in the USA. We all know that racism and discrimination affects every race, ethnicity, culture, ability, age, gender and sexual orientation. But it is our responsibility to identify and learn about what affects each group, especially when we have a diverse club/team with those groups. If we leave it at just being 'diverse', not knowing or identifying issues that are problematic within the same groups, the problem grows and we lose the ability to balance our club/team culture. Keep in mind, 'Diversity' extends into athletes with disabilities, gender, athletes who are LGBQT and athletes who are aged, and all of these with those that are identified as 'intersectional' which is generally defined as people with the same issues but with multiple backgrounds. I coach athletes with disabilities, many who have an intersectional background and all have been affected individually or together yet others fail to recognize that those within the same group are not immune from discriminating against each other. When discussing education of racism and discrimination with the same groups, this is can be an overwhelming topic and may even give some a headache, but if you are going to tout and be proud of your diverse group of athletes or diverse team/club, then please ensure that you EXPAND and VARY your range of understanding (diversifying) that there are other issues that need to be mitigated within your various groups before you claim that your club/team is 'diverse'. For more information about discrimination, please read the CDC information: https://www.cdc.gov/eeo/faqs/discrimination.htm For more information about DEI and broadening your understanding of diversifying the diversity, especially expanding what this means in terms of socio economic status of your groups, please read for an expanded perspective: https://avtarinc.com/diversity-digest/dei-leaders/diversifying-the-diversity-strands/
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