What happens when you talk about diversity on the record? Things go quickly off the record.
Over the last several weeks I’ve been blogging about my NGL experience and specifically around the area of diversity.
I can’t tell you the amount of people who have reached out to me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, email, carrier pigeon, etc. It’s been overwhelming. And to all of you who have responded and participated in the conversation, thank you.
It’s comforting to hear that what I’m expressing isn’t something isolated to my experience, but that across the board, at every corner within public media, there are these “issues” surrounding diversity. You’re equally interested in not only diagnosing these problems but also being a part of the solution.
I do however see a pattern that I’m concerned about regarding these comments. With the exception of literally two people and the #NGLPubMedia Twitter chat about culture, everything that was discussed with all of you was off the record. I get it and I totally understand why.
It’s because of NGL that I have this opportunity to speak out vocally about diversity. It feels both like a license and an insurance policy, and not one that I, or several of the other fellows take for granted. Others too have also been vocal about this issue like Stephanie Foo, and Al Letson, both who come with some nice air cover and support. I’ll even throw in Melody Kramer who’s been vocal about the definition of membership, and literally has been on the record with everything she’s learned in and out of public media.
So, Ramsammy, what are you trying to say? Well, you’re like me sans the NGL badge, a person of color, living in public media’s middle earth, there’s little room for us to be vocal. When we do speak out loud it comes with a great risk, not seen enough for it’s merit, and all too often feeling quashed and ignored — depressing. Ignoring the detractors is easier said than done, but it’s par for this course that we’re all on.
And, perhaps the greater risk is staying silent, and accepting the status quo.
During his keynote speech at this year’s SXSW, Casey Gerald had this inspiring message hinging on these two questions (Casey by the way was the SXSW opening act for President Obama):
“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”
and
“How do we create a country where everybody’s got a shot?”
Both of those questions above require us to be on the record. It propels us to think about diversity, not as the absence of whiteness, but to the inclusiveness of all people: race, class, and gender.
If you live every day as an exclusion to the conversation, you’ll never have the opportunity to create a record of your own.
What are you waiting for? For some central authority figure to give you/I the permission to speak? The days of living in that world are long over, despite what others would like you to think, and the people/audiences we represent can no longer afford to have their challenges addressed by systems and organizations currently in place today.
Over the course of this NGL experience I’m pushing myself to cast a vision that doesn’t live on the boundaries but lives just beyond the horizon, and it’s something that I’m uniquely qualified to do. By stretching myself out, speaking past my own comfort zone, I’ll find even more purpose and meaning, and perhaps more people just like you.
I hope that you’ll give yourself the permission to take what you’re thinking and put it on the record. We’re living in revolutionary times. History needs that, we need that, and you might need that even more than you’ll ever know.
