As a child, I was raised in a household that valued hard work. I was fortunate to have mentors in my life that told me that I was capable and could achieve anything I tried to do. I believed it when I was told that failure was not an option!
As an adult and in my current capacity of director of diversity and inclusion, I have a responsibility to bring awareness to issues that are not always easy or comfortable to talk about. But I do it because I am passionate about the issues of inclusion and its importance. But for the purposes of this entry, it is not my diversity hat that I am speaking from. It is from the role of a mother and a member of the human race that I would like to share my thoughts.
I have been a very proud alumnus of Rutgers College, Rutgers University class of 1981. The tragic and very sad occurrence that took place at my alma mater with the suicide of Tyler Clementi has been weighing heavily on my mind and heart. I am not much interested in what political party that one may have allegiance. I am speaking as a mother who is crying for the loss of a son, because of ignorance, hate, stupidity or a combination of the three. While I do not discount, the sadness of the families of the accused; my prayer is that no parent worth their salt wants to see their child suffer, but the actions of the two individuals who are accused of this crime, is something that has become all too common place. When is it okay to take away the right of anyone to feel safe, respected and valued? Who gave these two people permission to dictate how the world, the community, should view or judge another individual? When will we as human beings stand up and say ENOUGH! Silence is not golden! Failure is not an option!
~ Kari Davis is a guest contributor.
Very thoughtful words coming from Mrs. Davis. Indeed the incident at Rutgers College was a tragedy and I too believe as generations become the new facilitators of our civilization we MUST continue to practice sensitivity towards EVERYONE. Our differences now and always have been so miniscule that predjudice is simply a waste of time. Hispanics and Homosexuals are now under similar scrutiny that African Americans went through 60-70 years ago. I will leave the Economist hat on my desk at work but unlike the Market, these actions shouldn’t be cyclical. Who’s next? I have been fortunate not to experience much bullying in my lifetime, but I also took that as an opportunity not to participate in it as well. There’s a show on MTV called “If You Really Knew Me,” and it matches high schoolers with different backgrounds and preferences together to find out how alike we all actually are. If we could do a giant nationwide comparison like this, I bet we would all be pleasantly surprised that we are all striving for the same goal. “Silence is not golden and failure is not an option!” I am proud of you Mrs. Davis!
This is fabulous. It hits not only the emotional but the real. We have all been silent too long on too many things. Violence needs to be identified and CALLED OUT at every turn. We have become an accepting hyper-violent and hyper-sexualized society.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Dave