What are diversity, equality and inclusion?

I wrote this after an article in the Daily Press by NY Times, Stephenie Sauls. 

What are diversity, equality, and inclusion?

Here is an idea to consider, a vision to unite people, and a view to stopping the hate in Virginia and America. Many articles are written today in the New York Times and other media outlets about diversity, inclusion, and equality without genuinely understanding the definitions thereof. I would submit the media writes for a citizenry they believe is ignorant of the facts. To find common ground, we must first manage our biases and define our goals honestly and without preconceptions. We need mass media that writes honestly and adhere to the definitions of adjectives and nouns used to inform. Would this not be a university professor standard?  

The definition of diversity: "A range of things." "A more recent definition would be the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds." 

A Dissident is "a person who opposes the official policy, especially that of an authoritarian state."

Equality is derived from the word equal means:  fairness; we as a collective society should ensure that individuals or groups of individuals are not treated less favorably because of their beliefs. Especially protected beliefs. When I think about equality, I think about the equality of opportunity as a worthy goal of any civil society. 

Equal is defined as a person or thing equal to another, as in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.

Inclusion is defined as an environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued. We all have them; We learn to manage our biases. An inclusive environment can only be created once we are more aware of our unconscious biases.

If we can agree to these definitions, then we can communicate honestly with each other. We can write, managing our biases honestly. If you disagree, I can't help you, but my attempt to help you is lost to your own biases you have yet to manage. Each can decide if they will get up and walk out of the cave and into the light. 

An article written by New York Times  Stephenie Saul, published in the Daily Press and other media outlets, seems to be full of bias not yet managed. Let me explain, and I quote Ms. Sauls: " a university of Virginia alumnus and trustee is part of a forceful movement fighting campus programs that promote diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI)." I want each of you to examine the adjectives used to describe; forceful - fighting and, of course, DEI. 

The school's diversity plan. After the death of George Flyod, a convict who, between 1997 and 2005, he was convicted of eight crimes. He served four years in prison after accepting a plea bargain for a 2007 aggravated robbery in a home invasion. His death was attributed to fentanyl and meth use as George was a well-known drug addict, jobless again. Police approached him for trying to pass counterfeit money in a convenience store. It is reported that the police officer and George knew each other as they had worked at the same bar as bouncers. If we are to accept diversity in its most accurate form, we would think about the premise that George Floyd put himself in harm's way by continuing to break the law and almost all of his adult life. We all accept that George did not deserve to die; however, if one is to continue to put themselves in harm's way, sooner than later, harm finds them. This is a diversity of thought in its proper form. When a dissident group like the NY Times and some within UVA decide to ignore the truth, biases ignite, and diversity is lost. Diversity is "a range of different opinions." These opinions should not be used to attack others, yet we see this daily on college campuses. 

Another example is media reports of the white supremacist groups' march in Charlottesville. As vile as the thought of supremacy over others based on skin color disgust me, I am reminding you counter-protestors were bussed in, and some on-campus students attended and committed violent protest that resulted in the death of a woman and contributed to two state police officers' deaths. Had this vile white supremacist group been allowed to protest under constitutional free speech protected rights, who had a legal permit to march, who should have been rescued from counter-protestors, lives would have been saved. Even foul, horrid, hateful white supremacists are part of a "range of different things." They are a group that comes from "socially different backgrounds."  I am amazed that the UVA board of visitors, the city, and professors do not take responsibility, at least in part, for the events that faithful day. I am amazed academia today does not or refuse to acknowledge true diversity.

Diversity "A range of different things." President Ryan worries "about academia freedom and ideology conformity." Yet, most UVA professors identify themselves as very liberal - slightly liberal, and 60.8% are politically left-leaning progressives; moderates, on the other hand, comprise 18.9%, and conservatives account for 20.2%. UVA  seems to promote the atrocities against academic freedom and conformity they pretend to fight. James A. Beacon writes, "The Jefferson Council, an organization on whose board I serve, has compiled abundant testimony, some public and some off the record, that many conservatives at UVa are afraid to openly speak their minds — and are especially fearful of transgressing the official doctrine on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion or its leftist, social-justice underpinnings."  If diversity is the true objective, would the university want more conservative professors to balance the poison fed to our children by left-wing progressives?

In comparison, My analogy of Mr. Ellis is John Adams's representation of British soldiers in the aftermath of the Boston massacre. The Boston citizenry hated Adams for defending British soldiers. The professors of UVa and the media hate Mr. Ellis for defending Jefferson. Defending the British soldiers was noble in action. Limited freedom conjured up by left-wing progressives who attack when they disagree and attack with malice is not real DEI; it is an illusion. We see what appears to be a violent attitude coming from the NY Times article and left-wing counter-protest like what we saw in Charlottesville. We see student counter-protestor violence play out across our college campuses and defended by left-wing progressives. I am not saying Mr. Ellis would support white supremacists or bad policing. I am saying Mr. Ellis would support freedom of speech, true diversity, inclusion, and equality. 

According to Inside Higher Ed, academic freedom is not achieved when 1/3rd of all students do not trust professors and do not give their honest opinions. This is especially true in the relationships between liberal professors and conservatively raised students. After graduating from Hampden Sydney, I remember my son's remarks, "Dad, it is better just to tell the professor what he wants to hear." My white son is now a 24-year-old professional working for Boeing living in Charleston, Sc—a self-sufficient young man who was not good enough for UVA. Yet some attend UVA based on skin color and lower academic achievements. Where opportunities are competitive, like college acceptance, there are those who prefer equal outcomes or to have the opportunity at the expense of others. How do we judge who is accepted and who is not when there is an unequal numerical achievement outcome. We judge based on skin color, and that is not equity. 

My daughter is a speech-language pathologist, a graduate of Longwood, and a graduate student with a full scholarship attending the University of West Virginia. Still, she was not good enough for UVA. Now working for Fairfax County schools in speech, a self-sufficient professional who would call me at night to ask how to respond to left-wing liberal professors' ideology, an ideology my family disagreed with. Counseling my daughter when no one else would on campus, due in part to a lack of professors she trusted to confide in, I advised conservative, traditional values reminding her of Dr. Walter Williams (George Mason) and studying his work to defend her positions. So I ask again, where is the diversity? Where is the inclusion? Our Universities and Colleges fail to deploy true diversity for all, which is what Mr. Ellis is fighting forcibly. 

Equality: Equality tries to obtain opportunities for each individual or group by giving them the same resources and opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Equal outcomes do not exist and will never exist in a social construct. When we try to obtain social "equal," we are governed by Marxist - communist - perhaps tyrannical government. Yet we are never equal; even then, there are hierarchies. The closest we can come to equality is a capitalist republic. Equal will never exist due to the abstract of human reality. Equal will only exist in math where 1=1. I submit that equality will never be obtained if cultural diversity hinders opportunities or outcomes. That means that each society's culture must have the exact wants. In other words, If I may explain, humans are still tribal and will always be tribal by nature. I have to wonder if I really have to explain this to anyone? Each tribe must want the same things within "the range of things" allowed. This range of things is based on society's moral and ethical expectations. For this to be true, then some freedom is lost; some tribes will lose more freedom than others based on democracy or even Marxism; hence equality can never be equal. 

Example: We raise our families to produce the same outcome. Are our core family units built around the same culture? Do we all go to church? Do we all not go to church? Are all 1-12 grade schools the same, and if not, why? Who is to blame for the inequality of 1-12 grade schools, and can they ever be equal? Are marriage and traditional family objectives the best way to raise a child, and if so, why do some fight this? Please explain how a single mother is better at raising a child than a mother and father. Do we all follow the six simple rules that can lead to a good life lived"? Is one culture better than the other, and if not, why the different outcomes? Dr. Walter Willams would have asked the same questions and did being called a racist by the media and others whose minds are skewed by the progressive left-wing ideology. America was more in tune with each other in the 1950s despite the racial inequality than today, and children were much more likely to succeed then than now—reference: "Race and economics" by Dr. Walter Williams. 

In conclusion:

Would George Floyd still be alive today if he had followed six simple rules of a life lived well? 

Would America be better off if we just followed these simple rules? The answer is yes. 

1. Honor thy mother and father. 

2. don't kill

3. don't steal

4. don't lie

5. don't bear false witness

6. don't covet

You see, 99.3% of our society follows these simple rules while .7% do not. Yet we allow the .7% to dictate to the 99.3%, which is what Mr. Ellis is fighting forcibly.