A lot of comments have already been posted here, so it's most likely the case that this won't be seen, but I feel like sharing.
One of my problems about complaints for "diversity" is that for many people, it's usually "why isn't _my_ kind represented so I can hang out with them instead of X group?" Whites are happy to be with whites, blacks seems to be content mixing with blacks, latinos with latinos, asians with asians, etc. People only seem to complain when they are the only asian or the only black kid around, and they feel left out. Sure, that's normal to feel, but I don't see how having isolated equivalence classes makes any set of people "diverse" or any happier, save the people feel at home with their baramin.
May be for me, I'm just so interested in other cultures and people that I (try to) make friends with all races and (more importantly) individuals. Or may be it's because I don't have a "kind" to mix with as elaborated below. In any case, the version of diversity that I want accepting and being friends with someone even when that person isn't like you. It means giving a chance to those who aren't like you, and may be finding common bonds that you both could share. It means being interested and respecting others viewpoints, while not necessarily changing your own. Hell, this covers not just race relations, but sexual orientation, gender, a host of other things, right?
I'm a pacific islander and an "enrichment fellow" at some physics graduate program somewhere. Yes, that's code for a diversity/affirmative action fellowship, I suppose. I am a minority, but something that makes my experience different from others is that I didn't grow up with "my kind" because not many of "my kind" exist (probably around 100,000 in the world in order of magnitude). I grew up in Long Beach, CA surrounded by people of different backgrounds and races (mostly white, I guess), and went to a Catholic private school. In fact, I moved back to Palau [1] and hated it at first because I didn't fit in.
It's probably because of this background that makes me really not understand the concept of race and especially identifying with it. Identifying with a culture or subculture makes some sense to me--I have bits of Palau and bits of US culture in my personality because I lived in both places--and that is as far as it matters to me, how much that affects your personality. I do in general find cultures interesting as anyone would, but in evaluating a person, I really only care about personality.
[1] "Moved back to"? I like to think of it as my parents moved back and 8 year old me came along, I had never been in Palau before.
One of my problems about complaints for "diversity" is that for many people, it's usually "why isn't _my_ kind represented so I can hang out with them instead of X group?" Whites are happy to be with whites, blacks seems to be content mixing with blacks, latinos with latinos, asians with asians, etc. People only seem to complain when they are the only asian or the only black kid around, and they feel left out. Sure, that's normal to feel, but I don't see how having isolated equivalence classes makes any set of people "diverse" or any happier, save the people feel at home with their baramin.
May be for me, I'm just so interested in other cultures and people that I (try to) make friends with all races and (more importantly) individuals. Or may be it's because I don't have a "kind" to mix with as elaborated below. In any case, the version of diversity that I want accepting and being friends with someone even when that person isn't like you. It means giving a chance to those who aren't like you, and may be finding common bonds that you both could share. It means being interested and respecting others viewpoints, while not necessarily changing your own. Hell, this covers not just race relations, but sexual orientation, gender, a host of other things, right?
I'm a pacific islander and an "enrichment fellow" at some physics graduate program somewhere. Yes, that's code for a diversity/affirmative action fellowship, I suppose. I am a minority, but something that makes my experience different from others is that I didn't grow up with "my kind" because not many of "my kind" exist (probably around 100,000 in the world in order of magnitude). I grew up in Long Beach, CA surrounded by people of different backgrounds and races (mostly white, I guess), and went to a Catholic private school. In fact, I moved back to Palau [1] and hated it at first because I didn't fit in.
It's probably because of this background that makes me really not understand the concept of race and especially identifying with it. Identifying with a culture or subculture makes some sense to me--I have bits of Palau and bits of US culture in my personality because I lived in both places--and that is as far as it matters to me, how much that affects your personality. I do in general find cultures interesting as anyone would, but in evaluating a person, I really only care about personality.
[1] "Moved back to"? I like to think of it as my parents moved back and 8 year old me came along, I had never been in Palau before.