Diversity is NOT a strength

I'd love to discuss this and hear your perspective on it. I believe that diversity certainly can be a strength and should be something that we should strive for. I am an American who has grown up in Uganda, and has had access to both cultures. I believe that diversity should be valued more in today's society. Let's begin by defining diversity. According to Merriam Webster, diversity is the condition of having or being composed of different elements: variety; especially: the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group organization. Sociologist Dr. Caleb Rosado, who specializes in diversity and multiculturalism, described seven important actions involved in the definition of multiculturalism: -Recognition of the abundant diversity of cultures; -Respect for the differences; -Acknowledging the validity of different cultural expressions and contributions; -Valuing what other cultures offer; -Encouraging the contribution of diverse groups; -Empowering people to strengthen themselves and others to achieve their maximum potential by -Being critical of their own biases; and -Celebrating rather than just tolerating the differences in order to bring about unity through diversity. I'm going to go through all of these seven points individually, and talk about why I believe each of these is necessary for our relationships with other people. 1. Recognition of differences: To understand other people and what they have to offer us, we have to first realize that they are different from us and learn to accept that. No person is exactly the same, and there will always be differences in values, belief systems, and the way that they see the world, but when going across cultures, these differences are magnified. Each culture has different values, different systems, and different ways of living life, and until you recognize that there are differences, you won't gain the sensitivity and thoughtfulness you need to be able to care for them. 2. Respect for the differences: We must not only realize that the differences are there, but learn to respect and honor them. Our job is not to fix those differences and make them 'like us', but to accept that there are differences and stop trying to change them. Each person has a unique background and a story to share, and to "fix" diversity is to deny what makes a person themselves. 3. Acknowledgment of the validity of the differences: To accept diversity is to acknowledge that these differences are real and they aren't something to try to cover or change. Just because someone is different from us does not mean that they are wrong, and to accept diversity is to acknowledge and embrace the differences. 4. Valuing what other cultures offer: Every culture has different belief systems that are unique to themselves and can open up our eyes to another way of living. If we only have access to one culture, we'll never understand the richness of all of the different perspectives and lifestyles that other people can share. Until we learn to value other cultures, we can't learn to fully value our own. 5. Encouraging the contribution of diverse groups: To value diverse cultures is to value their input and contribution, and diversity means making sure that everyone has a voice to share their own backgrounds and belief systems. When different people with different beliefs and backgrounds share their stories, our understanding of our own world and situation is changed by it. 6. Empowering people to strengthen themselves and be critical of their biases: Unless we recognize that our backgrounds are unique to us and other people won't share our outlook, we can't strengthen our own outlooks and the way that we see the world. We have to learn to be critical of ourselves and open to new perspectives if we are going to learn to accept people's differences. 7. Celebrating rather than tolerating the differences- unity through diversity: Our differences give us new values, outlooks, and perspectives, and hearing from people with different perspectives can widen our outlook and allow us to see beyond the world that we've grown up in. When we celebrate our differences and embrace our similarities, our worlds become much richer and more abundant.