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Media Representation of Diversity

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Introduction

The chapter “Understanding Civility and Cultural Competence” by OpenStax College

provides a definition of diversity and its types. Offering a real example of a class setting with

white only students is effective in understanding the mistakes that people make in identifying

persons of various cultures. The source also explains categories of diversity from a personal

ground, where the readers are involved in defining their identity based on their roles versus their

lives' reality. Consequently, the article represents diversity clearly and realistically because the

definition is from a place the readers can relate.

Brief Summary

The first section of the chapter uses Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet to elaborate on

how impossible it is to understand people’s diversity from their looks. Accordingly, diversity is

defined as people’s aspect of identity, such as sexual orientation, political stand, and veteran

status, that are physically unidentifiable. The fact is illustrated by the way the students take roles

that fail to match their diversity characteristics when reading the play. For example, a lesbian girl

plays a female's role, while a German American reads an Italian's part. Further, a male is

assigned a female position, and a learner with an African American grandmother assumes the

role of a white person. The way their teacher thinks they are all the same indicates that diversity

is hidden in them but defines them more than their physical characteristics.

According to the chapter, each person's diversity develops from their family history,

geographical location, personal experiences, and public policy. Everybody should be culturally

competent to understand their unique identity and respect others that are different. Notably,

different people living together should share as much information as possible about themselves
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to enable those around them to understand and appreciate them. Open communication is vital in

upholding diversity, while the people involved should be emotionally intelligent.

The chapter goes further to elaborate on how the history of the United States leads to the

abuse of various minority groups' civil rights and inclusion. The country's history of slavery

gives African Americans an identity of inferiority and poverty compared to the whites. Women

and members of minority groups such as immigrants and physically challenged people had also

been left out of public participation and roles in leadership and government for many years.

Breaking the cycle has been a struggle to date. However, people and institutions should respect

people’s different experiences and uphold inclusion and equity to realize a fair society and for all

people to be accorded equal chances of success. Education and the involved institutions play a

significant role in empowering the community to uphold equity and promote diversity.

The second part of the chapter defines diversity by first explaining that a person’s

personality is their unique sense of self that is shaped by physical, psychological and social

features. Therefore, every person has many identities that should be respected by all people.

They are of personal, social, role, and collective identity types. The overlapping of an

individual’s personal identities creates intersectionality, which overlap in an inseparable manner.

For example, an African woman's gender and racial aspects cannot be separated. Other identities

that define the woman's identity include her sexual orientation, religion, political beliefs, age,

mental ability, and income. Awareness of intersectionality is essential in helping people to

understand themselves and appreciate others.

Characters in the Chapter

The main character in the chapter is the teacher, who is unable to tell the student’s

diversity because he judges them by their physical appearance. He is educated because he is

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trained to be a teacher. The instructor thinks he can understand people's background information

by looking at them, which is impossible. He is used to representing few people in the society that

judge people mistakenly by their appearance, deciding if they should like or dislike them, and the

amount of respect to accord the person.

The teacher is highly stereotypical because he comments on how the students are the

same, suggesting that they are suitable for taking roles in Romeo and Juliet in the traditional

positions. He notes that these days the characters taken when the play is performed can be by

different races, such as a black person playing the role of Romeo and an Asian representing Lady

Montague. The instructor appears racist because he only defines the new tendency is by people's

race. However, posing the question of whether the roles being played by people of unexpected

races would influence the experience of watching the play shows proves that various people

would take the change differently depending on their attitude towards different races.

Unlike the students, the teacher has the privilege to speak what he feels before an

audience. Further, he has the advantage of belonging to a majority race in a white society that

can profile minority races negatively and subject them to discrimination. The position of a

teacher means that he is paid and falls in the middle-income earners' category unless citizens

who lack job security and earn very little. Notably, people who are privileged over others speak

discriminatively more quickly than those who understand the pain of being perceived to be

different.

The teacher's perception of the students is an accurate representation of many whites in

society. They think that people are like them only based on their skin color, while they know

nothing about their families, religion, and gender, which are hidden in many cases. Most have

little awareness of diversity, and they understand themselves to promote discriminative actions
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against people who are different. Many people are culturally incompetent even in their minority

communities and cannot welcome and treat appropriately people whose ways are different from

theirs.

Left Out Groups

The case study primarily addresses race to mark people's different identities in society.

There is also a mention of gender in keeping individuals' identity differences. However, many

minority groups are unidentified in the case study but are addressed deeply in the chapter. For

example, physically challenged people are ignored in many situations. Most people consider

them too weak to relate with and deserve full human respect. The disregard affects their lives

negatively because they feel intimidated and despised, which affects their ability to fit in the

community. Women are also a diverse group that though unaddressed in the case study are

discussed later in the chapter. They continue to suffer for being treated like they are less than

men, and paid lower than men for similar jobs. Notably, society punishes them for their

demanding lives, especially raising children, which takes a lot of their time from work, and

burdens them emotionally and psychologically, unlike men.

The text fails to address children unintentionally. The group is treated differently in

various communities. However, they are weak and defenseless, which leaves them at the mercy

of their caregivers. However, the law has been updated over the years to protect children's rights

and protect them from abuse. Most activists who fight for the rights of respecting diversity

ignore children because a majority are under loving and caring caregivers. Unfortunately,

advancement in the legal protection of children still leaves many unable to fight for their rights.

They still suffer in the hands of physically and emotionally abusive adults, such as pedophiles.

Further, children can be subjected to poor upbringing and feeding, causing them to live with
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consequences their entire life, such as obesity. Most children are afraid of reporting their

caregivers for fear of their future and vengeance. Hopefully, children will be more recognized as

a group with its diverse characteristics more in the future to ensure that they are all cared for and

protected equally, irrespective of the cultural and personal backgrounds of their caregivers.

Why Representation of Diverse Groups is Important

First, representing diverse groups accords all people their human dignity. For example,

maltreating employees strips them of the dignity they are due and they feel threatened and

disrespected. Such feelings affect people’s self-esteem and can lead to negative reactions in self-

defense. People should be represented to allow them to live in peace and harmony with others in

the society.

Another reason for representation of all communities is that they deserve their human

rights. Abusing the rights is criminal and offenders should be prosecuted. For example, it is

illegal to fire persons after learning that they are gay. Equally, it is illegal to deny a qualified

individual an opportunity to work for being physically challenged. Upholding people’s rights in

the society allows people to take their judgement to evil people such as robbers and murderers,

as opposed to subjecting people to suffering based on their identities.

Peaceful co-existence promotes peace that is enjoyed down generations. Inclusion

promotes unity in the world and people's ability to be welcomed in any part of the world they

visit. Further, policies that support diversity improve over time; hence, inclusion today translates

to better living for future generations.

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References

Barroso, A. & Brown, A. (2021, May 25). The gender pay gap in the U.S. held steady in 2020.

Pew Research Center.

Kang, M., Lessard, D., & Heston, L. (2017a). Identity Terms. Introduction to Women, Gender,

Sexuality Studies. http://openbooks.library.umass.edu/introwgss/chapter/identity-terms/

National Council on Disability. (2006) Common Myths about Diversity and Cultural

Competency.

OpenStax College (2020). Chapter 9: Understanding Civility and Cultural Competence,

Introduction, section 9.1 & 9.2. College Success. OpenStax.

Kang, M., Lessard, D., & Heston, L. (2017). Intersectionality. Introduction to Women, Gender,

Sexuality Studies.