by Bri Jackson, Lauren N. Colie and Michael Pasco
One vendor shows off her offerings at the Market. Image by Michael Pasco.
One local community center offers a farmer’s market to make fresh food accessible in the “food desert” community. Listen here >>
The word “diversity” is one of those loaded terms that can mean a lot of different things depending on your perspective – whether you examine it from a legal standpoint or a more abstract interpretation. I looked up the dictionary definition, and it is “the state of being diverse” or “a range of things” – neither of these definitions is particularly clear. In legal terms, typically a government definition under the heading of civil rights, “diversity” is supposed to refer to demography, like differences in race, religion, color, gender, disability, nationality, sexual orientation, age or education.
However, I think these are both rather narrow visions of “diversity.” One point I always find important is diversity in thought and opinion – it’s great to reflect on politically correct topics like religion or race, but for something to be truly diverse, a range of thoughts need to be expressed safely and openly.
When we focus on “diversity” in reference to only one’s background, we ignore other important applications in daily life.
The other issue I note in this line of thinking is not just that we must recognize the other forms of diversity that warrant awareness, we must recognize the ability to express or display diversity (through words, actions or appearances) is essential in promoting and sustaining diversity. Some would question why we even should promote and sustain diversity, and this comes down to a matter of fairness. Something that is fair is reasonably objective until a decision is made – in the case of journalism, for an article to be fair, it should be objective. For it to be objective, it should be diverse in scope. As journalists, we should be aware of and apply all forms of diversity in our work for the fullest, roundest story possible.
l.n.colie 