W H AT I L E A R N E D A B O U T I N C LU S I O N A N D W H Y I T M AT T E R S By: Kathryn Ellis
Knoxville Family Justice Center
EVERY PERSON MATTERS I have a confession . . . I struggle to talk about diversity. I find myself running conversations in my head before saying anything out loud because I don’t want to upset anyone. I don’t want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. I know I’m not alone in this feeling, but that doesn’t make it any easier. I stop myself before mentioning one of my Black/ Hispanic/gay friends. I think about whether what I’m about to say might be offensive to someone who is religious, or to someone who is not religious at all. Despite struggling to talk about diversity, I do what I can to never turn away from the conversation. In my first semester of graduate school, Dr. Susan Becker taught History 510: Introduction to Graduate Studies, which was a required course. The current course description says, “this class will teach you to be more self-conscious about the analytical choices you make while doing historical research, and also give you a chance to reflect on your decision to pursue a career in history.” The first assignment Dr. Becker gave us was to write about our frame of reference (FOR) and individual sphere of influence (SOI) and to explain how those each influenced the way we looked at history. The assignment forced us to look at where we came from, who and what influenced us, and generally why we looked at history the way we did. To identify our personal SOI, we had to consider where we came from – our family, our community, our education, our religion, etc. To identify our FOR, we had to consider the criteria we used to judge our experiences, our actions (and those of others), and our ideas. As a 21-year-old who had never really analyzed why I thought the
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way I did and why I viewed others the way I did, the assignment was difficult, but also eye-opening. What I learned when I looked closely at what and who influenced me and shaped me, I realized that every person I interacted with mattered. I thought about Ms. Beech, my sixth-grade homeroom teacher, who at 6’2” didn’t hesitate to wear 3” wedge sandals, rocked her braids, and fully embraced her love of Jazzercise. She also introduced our class to the wonders of Earth, Wind, and Fire. I thought about Mr. Esformes ( Jack) who I had for three years of government/ history in junior high and high school. Jack taught AP Government, but rather than limiting his class to “advanced” students he opened it up to any student who wanted the challenge of the advanced class and, thus, exposed the students in his class to different ways of thinking and different experiences. My personal sphere of influence included educators, politicians, civil servants, and caretakers. It included adults who were black, white, Hispanic, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic, Democrat, and Republican. My frame of reference revolved around my constant need to create balance and to make sure everyone was treated fairly. Thanks to Dr. Becker, I learned to understand how my own sphere of influence and frame of reference influenced my opinion of others and of events. Learning about myself enabled me to think about how others might hear my words and analyze my actions based on their own spheres of influence and frames of reference. The conversation will never be easy, but it will always be worth having.
DICTA
December 2021
