The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion

Taking steps to be educated about people other than myself honestly started this year. As awful as it sounds, I was never old enough to understand or was never impacted enough to fully care. It wasn’t until this past year that I feel like I finally woke up. It’s exactly like when you wake up from a fantastic dream, and as you shake off your sleepiness, you realize what you just experienced wasn’t real. It’s the sadness of being jolted back to reality and understanding you’re no longer dreaming. You’re back in the real world. I had been dreaming and lived in a world where I had the privilege to be oblivious to what was going on. I could fall back asleep and not worry about my safety, my family’s safety, my character, or my opportunities. I had the privilege to turn the lights back off, close my blinds, and dive back into bed. But this past year shook me awake. 2020 ripped the blinds open, flicked the lights on, and yanked my covers away. I realized that not everyone was able to fall back asleep and keep dreaming peacefully. Some people laid constantly awake, fearing for their own lives and the lives of the ones they love.

After being shaken awake to the fact that people were experiencing severe injustices daily, I realized that there had to be something I could do to help others sleep a little more soundly at night. I’ve learned that this can happen in many different ways; protesting, donating, and education.

This leads me to where I am now; taking the time to be educated, using my privilege where I can, and why we should all care (specifically as White people.)

I need to care because everyone deserves to benefit from the privileges I have been given. I have not done a single thing to deserve the privilege that I have; the opportunities that I will get to have, the safety I am surrounded with, or the standard of beauty I don’t have to compete with are things I did not have to work for. The things that we assume are automatic rights that everyone is given are actually privileges, advantages, leverages that we have been undeservingly gifted with.

With that privilege, though, comes a responsibility it seems so many of us are unaware of. Holding power always comes with responsibility. The color of my skin gives me power and protection but also comes with a purpose. That purpose is aiding those who don’t have that power or protection. I need to use that power because my best friend has been berated with racist comments since elementary school. I need to care because my co-worker feels like she doesn’t see enough people who look like her at work. White people need to care because everyone deserves to feel the protection and power that we have.

So, with all of that being said,

Let’s wake up.