An Affinity for Affinity

Minority is a bad word. Diversity is not.

I had the opportunity to assist in NBC Universal's NBC Unified program which, to define it simply, consists of a skimming along the top of the five affinity groups associated with NBCU. It was a who's who of gay, female, Asian, Hispanic, and black executives all in the same place for one reason. To give me a job.

I wish.

In reality, they were there to promote and encourage diversity in the workplace. Something that a sheltered white boy like myself didn't have the pleasure of growing up with.

I had a black friend once. His name was D'Angelo and he spoke in ebonics. It was from him that I first learned the "words" 'coo' and 'aint'. Subsequently, that's also when I learned from my parents what a double negative was; and that when I said "I ain't gonna eat no broccoli" I was actually declaring that, yes, I was indeed going to eat some broccoli.

Even though D'Angelo lived in one of the richest suburbs of San Francisco, he was still different from the rest of his classmates; less by the color of his skin than by his culture. When his family moved out of our white bread town, that was the last of my social encounters with a black person.

Also, I realized that for the first time in my life, I have a gay friend (HEY BRETT!). I could launch into a story about how even though I am from the San Francisco Bay Area, I was never exposed to a homosexual peer (nor was a homosexual peer ever exposed in front of me), rather I will assume that you get the point that I was fairly sheltered in my white washed suburban childhood.

And it wasn't until I went to the University of Arizona that I was introduced to the world of a minority and exclusion of my own at the Hispanic film festival. Films solely consisting of Hispanic themes, actors, and audiences isolated me from the culture rather than introducing me to it. Feeling out of place, my emotions wandered toward contempt. Being self-aware (a vice given to me by my two therapist parents) I acknowledged these feelings and opened my eyes for the first time that there might be some disdain directed at the Caucasian culture that this country clings to.

After working this event and sitting in on some of the discussions regarding diversity within a company, I realize that many of the same principles should be instated in my everyday life. First and foremost, we do not live in my white washed suburban hometown anymore, even Larkspur, California has seen an influx of other cultures, races and creeds. Second of all: this is not a bad thing. While we may choose to live in our own sheltered communities, we are all a part of a bigger global community. It is the result of an inability to communicate and understand other cultures that breeds contempt.

The way to fix this is not to hold exclusive events for one group, but rather trickle in diversity. Having an all Hispanic film festival is not diverse, nor does it make up for a lack of Hispanic presence in American culture. It merely creates a separation between the current culture of this country and the Hispanics within it leaving both Hispanics and Caucasians feeling threatened.

And as for "diversity" programs at companies that solely target minorities, this is also not diversity as diversity would also include Caucasians not exclude them because they are presently the majority.

In summation, please accept me into your diverse writer's program even though I am a white Jewish male in the entertainment industry.

Thank you,

Ross Bercun