FROM My perspective
Safe Space By Linda Jimenez Chief Diversity Officer and Staff Vice President – Diversity & Inclusion WellPoint, Inc.
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In September, the nation was shocked when news spread that an innocent young man at Rutgers took his life after intense cyber-bullying. Many were angry, many were heartbroken and many of us were ashamed to learn the details of the Rutgers freshman’s death. Tyler Clementi’s suicide is a stark reminder that diversity practitioners, and all of us, still have a lot to accomplish before we can truly say we live in an environment of true diversity and acceptance. To me, the most disturbing aspect of this story wasn’t the fact that two fellow students would be despicable enough to intentionally invade a roommate’s privacy, and laugh about it. No, the most horrifying part was that Tyler felt so ashamed of his sexuality that he killed himself after others discovered his sexuality and made it public. While there is much blame to be put around the cyber-bullying in which Tyler’s roommate engaged, there is ample blame that all of us should accept for failing to create an accepting society where the “Tyler Clementi’s” of this world feel safe, secure and comfortable with their whole self. Shame on all of us for not working harder to ensure that our world is a “Safe Space,” and that we are not vigilant in our efforts to combat the ideas of those who seek to perpetuate an “us” vs. “them” environment. How can we as a society continue to intentionally tolerate behavior that denies basic human rights to large segments of our population? How does the military’s “Don’t Ask / Don’t Tell” policy support a commitment to diversity and inclusion and respect for individual differences? Why does Arizona feel it is appropriate to allow police officers to stop and detain individuals for possibly being in the country illegally based on nothing more than the color of their skin? The question of whether or not Muslims should be allowed to build a mosque near Ground Zero created a firestorm of debate around religious tolerance in our country, which was originally settled in response to religious persecution. 12
P ro f i l e s i n D i v e r s i t y J o u r n a l
N O V e m b e r / D E C EM b e r 2 0 1 0
Hate crimes (also known as bias-motivated crimes) occur when a perpetrator targets and carries out a crime against a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by race/ ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, language, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, or political affiliation. Incidents may involve physical assault, damage to property, bullying, harassment, verbal abuse or insults, or offensive graffiti or letters (hate mail), and something that is becoming more and more prevalent – bullying via social media. Bullying has indeed entered the digital age. The impulses behind it are the same, but the effect is magnified. In the past, non-physical bullying would generally consist of whispering or shouting or passing around notes or letters, and the distribution of such materials or verbal bullying was fairly limited. Now with a few clicks, a photo, video or conversation can be shared with hundreds, thousands and even millions via e-mail, through websites like YouTube or iChat, or through Facebook or blog postings or Twitter. What do these incidents tell us? When Attorney General Eric Holder made the statement that we are a nation of cowards for not talking enough about racial tensions he was spot on…but not just about race discussions. His comments, like these incidents, should serve as a call to action for all of us to evaluate our behaviors. We can all certainly raise the level of respect we have for one another. We can and should certainly be more accepting and understanding of the differences and similarities that make each of us unique. You can learn something from everyone. We should harness each strength and unique attribute and if we each make the effort, we can make great strides against hate and create a Safe Space for everyone. PDJ
Linda Jimenez is a native of San Antonio, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at Austin where she received her B.A. with honors. She is also a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law and has spent 20 years specializing in labor and employment law.