The Diversity Delusion

In 21^st-century America, diversity has become the golden standard, the banner under which organizations operate and the measure by which they are evaluated. Although I haven’t researched the growth of this trend, the elevation of diversity as a benchmark and/or a battle cry is likely related to our nation’s past of segregation—at least that is what we are told:  that diversity, whether in the workplace, in the schoolhouse, or elsewhere, is needed to reverse the way things were under Jim Crow, that it is evidence of the fact that we have realized the error of our ways and have corrected them.

But is that really what the current push for “diversity” does?

It is most definitely true that segregation is one of the darkest blots in the annals of our nation’s history. And it is also true that such discrimination is wrong and unacceptable. But relating cries for “diversity” to the history of discrimination leads to the premise that the absence of diversity indicates the presence of discrimination—a premise which is not necessarily true.

Why is that a problem?

Because it morphs diversity from something that is no longer avoided into something that is actively sought after for its own sake—and there’s a difference.

The triumph of America’s post-segregation years has been that diversity has been rightly recognized as something that is not bad, not to be feared, not to be avoided. But this shift of perspective where diversity is concerned has continued to the point where diversity is now seen as the ultimate good, as something that is to be intentionally sought after and obtained.

Again, why is that a problem?

Because when organizations seek after diversity, they are oftentimes seeking after it for the wrong reasons (e.g. we need to hire/recruit more African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics or we’ll be seen as discriminatory and/or lose our funding). So what do they do? They create strategies to increase the diversity on campus, in their business, etc. And what does that do to the people of various ethnicities who will be recruited and/or hired under these strategies?

Think about it for a second…

Whether overtly or not, such a perspective devalues them as individuals because they are not being sought after for their personal strengths or abilities but rather for the color of their skin. They are being identified by their ethnicity and brought on board so that the company, school, etc. can broadcast to the world that they are “diverse.”

But people from previously-discriminated-against populations are still being given the opportunity of a job or an education, you might be thinking. Isn’t that a good thing? Yes, but how would you like to know that the reason someone wanted to recruit you to attend their school or work at their business was because of your skin color? What would that tell you about what is most valued in you? Your mind? Your abilities? The content of your character? No, your skin. I don’t know about you, but that sounds a lot like what minorities have been trying to get away from for so long.

Some might argue, Well what do you know about it? You’re not a minority. No, but I am a woman, and the same goes for women in the workplace as well. I, for one, would not want to be the token woman on staff, hired merely to show that the company is not sexist. To be in such a position would be to have my value as an employee based in my gender rather than in my competence—which, when you get right down to it, is actually another form of discrimination. It’s just discrimination for instead of discrimination against.

Thus, we arrive at a second false premise mirroring the first, namely, that the presence of diversity equals the absence of discrimination.  

Is all this to say that diversity in and of itself is a negative thing? Not at all!

As a Christian, I understand the beauty of diversity because I know God to be the source of variety in His creation and because the Church universal (the body of believers across all space and time) is the most diverse body to ever exist. But the beauty of diversity in the Church is found in the recognition that at our core we are all the same. We have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and we have all been offered freedom from our slavery to sin because our Maker died in our place. Those who have accepted this gift and surrendered their lives to Jesus are the same yet again—this time as redeemed human beings.

In the diversity of the Church, then, there is unity—a unity that is based on the knowledge that our value and identities are in Christ. With this understanding as the foundation, diversity may truly flourish as it is revealed to be the beautiful element of God’s design that it is.

It is my hope that in the years to come our nation can move toward a truer understanding of diversity—one that celebrates the variety among us while also recognizing the commonalities among our differences. And I hope that instead of elevating diversity itself to the place of highest value, we learn to value what is infinitely more precious: people themselves.