"Diversity is our strength" is a slogan to help Americans accept our diversity because we can't get rid of our diversity and unite. We can't stop having a diverse citizenry so we needed a way to unite the diverse groups of citizens. The sorry fact is that it's a type of Platonist Noble Lie. It's what we tell children in the hopes that they won't be stupid, reflexive bigots. The USA can't survive if every little group puts their racial, ethnic, sexual and gender identity above being American. Unfortunately, we taught this BS to two generations of Americans who now really believe it as if it were a first principle and so are trying to push Americans further apart and squelch any possibility for unity and commonality.
Sincerely, in the 1980's when this phrase first started surfacing in the corporate world, most people in corporate America didn't say anything against it or question it. Most didn't say anything about the little groups that were peeling off to have their own diversity groups within corporations because most people understood it was a lie to try and encourage underclass minorities to succeed. I remember the first time I was at a meeting and the phrase was used. At first, I thought it meant something like, be open to all ideas because some of the crazy ideas might work. Then I realized it was a meeting about race. Like everyone else there, I thought it was aimed at trying to get white people to tolerate subpar performance of some minority co-workers and to encourage minority employees that the company values their contribution and wants them to succeed. Kind of like how Big Brother/Big Sister programs were about mentoring disadvantaged kids, this was kind of corporate mentorship to help minorities to succeed. The fact is, even some of the most "racist" people in the 1980's wanted American minorities to succeed, assimilate and move up into higher economic brackets. Everyone wanted unity in the 1980's except maybe David Duke but even then, lefties like the ACLU defending David Duke hoping he'd understand that though he had a right to say such vile things, they were vile and no one liked him saying those things.
The real reason why corporations started having Sensitivity Training and using phrases like Diversity is our Strength is for he same reason corporations started doing sexual harassment training and telling employees that sexual harassment depends on the woman's perception, not the man's perception. It was all about avoiding lawsuits. Specifically, because organizations like the one Jesse Jackson started and feminist organizations were extorting companies by demanding funding or they were going to sue based on sexual or racial discrimination. However, the 80's was the last time that middle class or the working class ever benefitted from anti harassment and anti discrimination laws. Since then, the only beneficiaries have been wealthy people or upper middle class people who have the resources to mount lawsuits. The last group of women that successfully sued over sexual harassment in any meaningful way were a couple of women that worked for a mining company. The last time a group of black Americans successfully sued and made a meaningful change was when they sued the KKK and put them out of business. Since then, it's all about economically secure people scoring points.
"Diversity is our strength" is a slogan to help Americans accept our diversity because we can't get rid of our diversity and unite. We can't stop having a diverse citizenry so we needed a way to unite the diverse groups of citizens. The sorry fact is that it's a type of Platonist Noble Lie. It's what we tell children in the hopes that they won't be stupid, reflexive bigots. The USA can't survive if every little group puts their racial, ethnic, sexual and gender identity above being American. Unfortunately, we taught this BS to two generations of Americans who now really believe it as if it were a first principle and so are trying to push Americans further apart and squelch any possibility for unity and commonality.
Sincerely, in the 1980's when this phrase first started surfacing in the corporate world, most people in corporate America didn't say anything against it or question it. Most didn't say anything about the little groups that were peeling off to have their own diversity groups within corporations because most people understood it was a lie to try and encourage underclass minorities to succeed. I remember the first time I was at a meeting and the phrase was used. At first, I thought it meant something like, be open to all ideas because some of the crazy ideas might work. Then I realized it was a meeting about race. Like everyone else there, I thought it was aimed at trying to get white people to tolerate subpar performance of some minority co-workers and to encourage minority employees that the company values their contribution and wants them to succeed. Kind of like how Big Brother/Big Sister programs were about mentoring disadvantaged kids, this was kind of corporate mentorship to help minorities to succeed. The fact is, even some of the most "racist" people in the 1980's wanted American minorities to succeed, assimilate and move up into higher economic brackets. Everyone wanted unity in the 1980's except maybe David Duke but even then, lefties like the ACLU defending David Duke hoping he'd understand that though he had a right to say such vile things, they were vile and no one liked him saying those things.
The real reason why corporations started having Sensitivity Training and using phrases like Diversity is our Strength is for he same reason corporations started doing sexual harassment training and telling employees that sexual harassment depends on the woman's perception, not the man's perception. It was all about avoiding lawsuits. Specifically, because organizations like the one Jesse Jackson started and feminist organizations were extorting companies by demanding funding or they were going to sue based on sexual or racial discrimination. However, the 80's was the last time that middle class or the working class ever benefitted from anti harassment and anti discrimination laws. Since then, the only beneficiaries have been wealthy people or upper middle class people who have the resources to mount lawsuits. The last group of women that successfully sued over sexual harassment in any meaningful way were a couple of women that worked for a mining company. The last time a group of black Americans successfully sued and made a meaningful change was when they sued the KKK and put them out of business. Since then, it's all about economically secure people scoring points.