diversity and soda (from xanga)

Here's a blog I originally posted for xanga. Not new, but worth reposting:

I think diversity (in terms of racial/ethnic/cultural/etc diversity) is a lot like soda. Think about how many different kinds of soda are out there: Coke, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Sprite, Mt. Dew, Cherry Coke or Pepsi, Fresca, Grape, Birch/Root Beer, and on and on. And each kind has a diet version. In some cases, there are kinds that have extra caffeine versions. So the possibilities are endless.

But in terms of color, there aren't very many sodas: brown, clear, yellowish, purple, maybe a few more. So if we look at the diversity of soda in terms of appearance, we are really looking at it in a limited sense. But when we consider flavors, the possibilities become endless. Sure, Dr. Pepper and Diet Coke might both be brown, but they have very different flavors. Sprite and Sierra Mist Free (or whatever it's called) may both be clear, but one has a ton of sugar and the other has caffeine (at least I think...). So to just talk about the color of soda really limits the discussion of diversity.

I'm sure you figure out where I'm going here. A lot of people may look at a group of people and say, "I see a lot of white people. That's not very diverse." But is this really fair to say? Pick any two of the white people from that crowd and you will find two very different cultural backgrounds. And really, isn't that what diversity's all about? Or should we just limit it to color?

So the question could become, "What is diversity, really?" Is it different skin colors? Or is it different cultural backgrounds. Think of it like this: there are many families that have adopted children of a different race when they are very young. These children then grow up in a certain culture that may be very different than the culture of their specific ethnicity. Say a family has one child and adopts another of a different ethnicity. Are those two children very different from each other just because of skin color? Or does the culture in which they were raised determine who they are?

I guess what I'm getting at is that we have really limited the discussion on diversity by making it about color. In one sense, you could say this actually works against diversity since it limits it to a kind of stereotype. It may cause someone to look at a group of people who appear to be the same "color" and consider them all to be pretty much the same.

I guess I'm not ok with that.