A small group of Tempe residents met Wednesday night to start a six-week series of discussions about diversity.
The Diversity Department of the City of Tempe hosted the first of the weekly “Diversity Dialogues” at the Pyle Adult Recreation Center for 15 selected residents.
Ginny Belousek, the city’s senior diversity specialist, said the goal of this six-week program was to open a dialogue for residents to speak about their personal experiences and views on diversity, as it applies to several aspects including age, race, faith, sexual orientation and upbringing.
“A lot of people think of diversity as only being about race, but it’s not. It’s so much more than that,” she said.
Tempe resident Kevin Sanders said he was there as a member of the Gay Straight Alliance and wanted to speak about diversity as it applies to sexual preference because of his own experience with the lack of understanding.
“I’m here to help make it more open,” said Sanders, a veteran of both Iraq wars. “In our society, sexual orientation is very taboo. People don’t talk about it, so they never understand.”
The discussion quickly opened up to personal stories of the participants and how they’ve experienced different diversity-related issues because of personal biases.
Though he attended with the intention of speaking about sexual orientation and how it applies to diversity, Sanders sparked a conversation among the group about the diversity issue in generational gaps.
He told a story about how older veterans looked at him when he went to a Veterans Affairs hospital — with his tattoos and piercings — and they doubted his service because of their own biases.
The story brought up many comments about the differences between generations, including the style of young men wearing their pants low and how the older generations view them negatively — teasingly calling them “saggers” — while others see it as a way of self-expression.
The evening meeting began with an exercise designed to make the participants reflect on their own personal biases.
Pictures of 13 people were briefly displayed and participants were asked to write their first impressions of the people based on the photos.
Upon seeing a woman in one photo, members of the group made comments including “conservative,” “homemaker,” “loves to cook”. It was revealed that she was a peace activist who had been arrested three times for her involvement in protests.
In another, a young woman was the subject of a photo many people in the group indentified as a young, highly athletic male.
The group agreed that as humans, each person will have biases. However, they said it was important to evaluate their own biases and stereotypes and see the effects they have.
As in many discussions on diversity, race was also a topic of discussion.
Frank Morales, a Tempe resident, said he had personal experience dealing with racially-based tension and the people he associated with as he advanced professionally.
“As I became more oriented towards the ‘Anglos’ I was kind of outcast by my Hispanic friends,” he said. “I would speak to them in Spanish and they would answer me in English. I wasn’t one of them anymore. You can be outcast even in your own group.”
Group members also worked to establish trust by setting guidelines for discussion and confidentiality among themselves, which discussion facilitator Gregg Smith said was important.
“We’re creating an absolutely safe environment for these discussions so that people can speak freely without any fear of being criticized or judged,” he said.
Morales said he came to the discussion for the opportunity to speak candidly about issues involving diversity.
“It’s open and honest,” Morales said. “There are no false fronts, people can just speak freely.”
Reach the reporter at michelle.parks@asu.edu.
