Cultural and Economic Diversity
Posted on: Tuesday, November 15th, 2005Comments: 0
When I was a young assistant district attorney I found myself in the middle of racial, cultural, and economic diversity for the first time in my life. I had been raised a middle class, Catholic white kid. I had never been exposed to different races or religions. I never knew any rich kids. I never knew any particularly poor kids, either. My family never had any “extra” money so we never really went anywhere during my childhood. I basically spent all my early years in my neighborhood with other kids just like me.
So, as a young adult, I didn’t have a broad view of the world. In hindsight it really hurt me. One day while I was in court I had to break up a fight between two black kids. I tried to figure out what they were fighting about. One of them men turned to me and said, “Get away from us. It’s a black thing. You wouldn’t understand.” He was right. I didn’t understand. He was also right that I probably didn’t understand because I was a white suburban kid who knew nothing about the world he was living in. I remember feeling helpless, diminished.
As I grew in the DA’s office, I learned how little I knew about the world outside of my narrow upbringing. More importantly, I learned about how much was out there to be learned. Since then I have exposed myself to as much cultural, racial, religious, and economic diversity as possible. I wish I had done that much sooner in my life; during my childhood. With a broader view I would have been a better student; not just of school but of life. I would have made different choices; maybe better ones. I would have been deeper in so many ways.
Now, I do everything I can to help my daughters see the whole world while they’re young. I take them to a racially diverse church where they can meet and build friendships with Blacks, Hispanics, and children who are economically disadvantaged. I have them in Chinese classes so that they will appreciate that the whole world doesn’t speak English. And we talk about the world using a globe, the Internet, and trips so that they will think way more broadly about life than I ever could.
Our Church is not only racially and culturally diverse, but it is extremely poor. For example, the wealthier churches in the area will take in approximately $30,000 in their weekly collections; our church takes in approximately $500.00. This has helped my daughters appreciate more about the plight of those in financial need (although, without actually walking in their shoes, all we can do is scratch the surface). The fourth book in our series of children’s books for girls is entitled, “Pants Feeds the Poor.” The idea for this book came from my daughters. One day after church they said, “Pants is the kind of girl who would feed poor people, dad. Let’s do a book about that.”
I would love to get some new ideas from readers about other ways to racially and culturally broaden the experience of my daughters. Any ideas?
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