EQUITY
In times of sociopolitical polarities, resistence to what we have to say shouldn’t surprise us.
Staging a New ACT By Tim Herd, CPRE
I
t was quite an angry voicemail message I received this past November: “I WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU THINK I NEED DIVERSITY TRAINING! Don’t send me ANY MORE! THIS IS JUST A COMMUNIST…! I CAN’T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT!” And abruptly disconnected. This was apparently in response to our recent notices about the Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society (PRPS) diversity webinars by Mauricio Velásquez of the Diversity Training Group, which were sent out to all our members and a list of potential members. I can only hope he was in the latter category. A number of immediate thoughts came to me: • You didn’t tell me who you are, so I don’t know who to stop sending this to! • Perhaps he felt he was being singled out by our bulk email that
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customizes the greeting with a first name. (He wouldn’t be the first. Years ago at another agency, I had a board member who thought everything I wrote about improving leadership and relationships was about him, and resented me picking on him — until I explained that I always sent them to everyone. [“... Oh!”] He was then fine about it; although a bit embarrassed.) • Since many people are sensitive about their secret flaws, perhaps we smacked a nerve on this. • On the other hand, since he alluded to diversity training as
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being communistic, he’s likely affixed to quite a different perspective. • People naturally feel threatened and tend to react strongly when they feel they are losing power, prestige, control, influence or elevated status to others who are different from them. • If I had been able to talk with him, I probably would have asked him why he was so angry, and perhaps worked our way out of a misunderstanding. Who knows? But since I couldn’t, I’m left to only guess why “diversity” rattled him so badly that he had to rant on my voicemail. (A little later, our communications manager received an email with this in the subject line: “You can shove your diversity training you nowhere [sic].”)
