Today's Question: Why do we want to be multicultural?
On Saturday morning I posted the following response on the Facebook Group I opened up to my home congregation in Philadelphia.
We each see the world through the window of our own individual lives. But that's not the whole picture, and we will never understand the full reality (and potential beauty) of the world if we don't connect to people whose windows show a different story. Being multicultural lets us expand our understanding of what is possible, what is just, what needs to be changed, what more we can celebrate. By creating a multicultural community, we take down harmful assumptions, form new pathways for learning and loving, build relationships that strengthen our commitment to necessary anti-oppression efforts, and come to expand our understanding of our "self" as interconnected and inseparable from the stories of those around us. Being multicultural helps us better understand ourselves in relationship to the world, and the ways in which we are called to transform it into a "community with peace, liberty, and justice for all."
That is only my partial answer. While I agree wholeheartedly with what I posted, there are a few more thoughts I would like to share that are more suitable to my own personal blog.
I feel like it cannot be said enough - multiculturalism is not about diversity for diversity's sake. Yet, we can so often become easily trapped in that mindset of achieving "diversity" without actually considering why it is a necessary element of the ever-sought-after beloved community. And when our understanding of the "why" is missing, our efforts, though well-intentioned on the surface, are misguided, ungrounded, and lazy. Frankly, if we do not have a reason to build multicultural communities besides "diversity is good" or "multiculturalism is good," than we should not be trying to build them. Not yet, anyways. But unfortunately, this mindset is one that I have encountered on a few too many occasions, and it leaves me feeling as though some communities see "cultures" as something to collect. Difference becomes a commodity, and what can at first feel like appreciation for one's experience turns out to be tokenism for the sake of another's desire to feel good about including "other" people. The result is pain, frustration, and disappointment for all members of the community. Some might wonder what they are doing wrong. "We believe everyone is welcome!" they exclaim with confusion. "Diversity is one of our guiding principles!" Some might wonder if they will ever find a community committed to inclusion. "I thought this place would be different," they sigh with fatigue. "I thought the people here would actually listen."
So why do we want to be multicultural? My answer is as simple as it is difficult. To heal. For so long, we have been divided into groups that create an "us" and a "them;" categories that create a sense of competition for allegedly limited resources; identities that are assigned different levels of worth within systems designed to maintain the power and privileges of certain "kinds" of people over others. Our social structures were not originally built to encourage connection and appreciation between these groups, categories, or identities. Instead, many were created to separate and isolate, generating and perpetuating a fear of the "other" that encouraged a culture of protection from anyone who was different from oneself. For those with greater social and economic power, these structures and this culture of protection worked, and continue to work, in their favor - they maintain a privileged position in society and can define its rules, its norms...and its alleged threats. For those on the other end of the spectrum, they are faced with a history and mentality that automatically defines them as lesser beings, and social structures that ensure they are treated that way.
For many of us, what I have just described is nothing new. It is "oppression 101," and if you're reading this blog, chances are you've heard me use the aforementioned "p-words" countless times. Many of you have probably used them yourselves. So how can multicultural community help to bring the healing needed to end these oppressive divisions? Why do we need multiculturalism to change these power-protecting structures? Because without true multicultural community, we would never know the depth of impact these structures have. Without true multicultural community, we would never need to look within ourselves and understand what role we play in allowing those divisions to continue on - what responsibility we have in bringing them to an end. Multiculturalism brings us the healing we need by allowing another person's story to change how we understand ourselves. That may sound a bit counter-productive and self-centered, but it is a necessary part, and result, of true multicultural community. Our interactions with people whose stories are different from our own challenge the assumptions in our daily narratives, add a layer to our identity that is in relationship to those around us with different windows on the world, and push us to reconsider how our attitudes and behaviors may not be as inclusive as we once thought. "Multiculturalism is good" when we are willing to let the diversity of experiences within our community teach us, grow us, change us, even dismantle us. Rather than see that process as a destructive one that takes apart the individual, we need to reframe it as a constructive one that builds the individual in community.
One of my favorite poems is On Being Woven by the Sufi poet Rumi. While the entire poem speaks to the importance of human relationship and companionship, it is the very first line that captures the essence of multicultural community.
"The way is full of genuine sacrifice."
The healing we require in this world demands genuine sacrifice within the context of multicultural communities. Until we are willing to sacrifice our preconceived notions of what is justice, our false self-assurance that we are in no way contributing to systems of oppression, and our belief that we are too good or learned to carry harmful assumptions, we will not heal those divisions. Until we are willing to sacrifice the power and privilege that we have when we encounter someone in our community whose story shows us that we do in fact benefit from a system that holds them down, we will not heal those divisions. Until we are willing to sacrifice the comfort of a community that accepts the status quo for the challenge of a community committed to the struggle of taking down the status quo, we will not heal those divisions. This idea of sacrifice does involve taking a risk on behalf of another's well being, and it does involve accepting a loss for the sake of someone beyond oneself. But what we lose through this genuine sacrifice is not our inherent worth or even our security. What we lose is the mindset that there is, as described by Anita Farber-Robertson, "a scarcity of the holy," a scarcity of love.
For me, the question is not "Why do we want to be multicultural?" The question is "Why do we need to be multicultural?" Our personal and spiritual development depends on the commitment to let ourselves be changed by stories different from our own. Our efforts to create a world community of "peace, liberty, and justice for all" require that we continually build relationships with people who will show us the ways in which we have been compliant to systems that divide and oppress. We need multiculturalism if we hope to move forward together, sacrificing our individual and competitive goals for the sake of generating communal and cooperative ones. We need multicultural community if we hope to be fully invested in the struggle to end injustice. We need multicultural community to heal.
For many of us, what I have just described is nothing new. It is "oppression 101," and if you're reading this blog, chances are you've heard me use the aforementioned "p-words" countless times. Many of you have probably used them yourselves. So how can multicultural community help to bring the healing needed to end these oppressive divisions? Why do we need multiculturalism to change these power-protecting structures? Because without true multicultural community, we would never know the depth of impact these structures have. Without true multicultural community, we would never need to look within ourselves and understand what role we play in allowing those divisions to continue on - what responsibility we have in bringing them to an end. Multiculturalism brings us the healing we need by allowing another person's story to change how we understand ourselves. That may sound a bit counter-productive and self-centered, but it is a necessary part, and result, of true multicultural community. Our interactions with people whose stories are different from our own challenge the assumptions in our daily narratives, add a layer to our identity that is in relationship to those around us with different windows on the world, and push us to reconsider how our attitudes and behaviors may not be as inclusive as we once thought. "Multiculturalism is good" when we are willing to let the diversity of experiences within our community teach us, grow us, change us, even dismantle us. Rather than see that process as a destructive one that takes apart the individual, we need to reframe it as a constructive one that builds the individual in community.
One of my favorite poems is On Being Woven by the Sufi poet Rumi. While the entire poem speaks to the importance of human relationship and companionship, it is the very first line that captures the essence of multicultural community.
"The way is full of genuine sacrifice."
The healing we require in this world demands genuine sacrifice within the context of multicultural communities. Until we are willing to sacrifice our preconceived notions of what is justice, our false self-assurance that we are in no way contributing to systems of oppression, and our belief that we are too good or learned to carry harmful assumptions, we will not heal those divisions. Until we are willing to sacrifice the power and privilege that we have when we encounter someone in our community whose story shows us that we do in fact benefit from a system that holds them down, we will not heal those divisions. Until we are willing to sacrifice the comfort of a community that accepts the status quo for the challenge of a community committed to the struggle of taking down the status quo, we will not heal those divisions. This idea of sacrifice does involve taking a risk on behalf of another's well being, and it does involve accepting a loss for the sake of someone beyond oneself. But what we lose through this genuine sacrifice is not our inherent worth or even our security. What we lose is the mindset that there is, as described by Anita Farber-Robertson, "a scarcity of the holy," a scarcity of love.
For me, the question is not "Why do we want to be multicultural?" The question is "Why do we need to be multicultural?" Our personal and spiritual development depends on the commitment to let ourselves be changed by stories different from our own. Our efforts to create a world community of "peace, liberty, and justice for all" require that we continually build relationships with people who will show us the ways in which we have been compliant to systems that divide and oppress. We need multiculturalism if we hope to move forward together, sacrificing our individual and competitive goals for the sake of generating communal and cooperative ones. We need multicultural community if we hope to be fully invested in the struggle to end injustice. We need multicultural community to heal.
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