“You’ve got to be able to have discourse,” Hunter said. “We need to create coalitions of interest, not coalitions of color.”
One way of doing this is aiming to find the similarities shared throughout a community, rather than the obvious differences.
“Immediately with diversity we talk about differences, but it’s about similarities,” Jones said.
Hunter said it’s acceptable for someone to notice the difference of race and gender, but it’s the moment you place limitations on those that it becomes problematic.
“Stereotypes place limits on the individual’s desire to do something because it puts pressure on that individual to perform,” Hunter said.
One exercise the group performed was the tough task of hypothetically choosing two of six candidates for a health transplant. Known characteristics such as age, race, education were different for each candidate which made it harder to objectively choose the recipients.
The around 20 participants unanimously chose a highly intelligent 15-year-old female despite her drug and behavior problems over that of a successful 70-year-old U.S. senator.
“Something drove you to make conclusions,” Hunter said. “We’re more prone to give opportunities to the young. Society dictates how we value age.”
The session was the first of three, as the city hopes to eventually establish an action plan for approaching diversity.
Mayor Pat Moeller said within the city there is a wide range of demographics.
“We share common goals, such as having a good job or home ownership, and our job should be to help foster those goals,” Moeller said.
Councilman Robert Brown said diversity should be about relationships and having an open door to everyone.
“Recognize the value contribution of every person,” Brown said.
What does diversity mean?
City leaders were challenged to define what diversity means to them Monday during the first of three sessions on the topic facilitated by Jimmie Jones and Gary Hunter, faculty at Miami University Hamilton.
“Diversity means a general inclusiveness and variety of viewpoints,” said Councilman Archie Johnson, who called the training session “the tip of the iceberg” for the city.
Tony Pochard, manager of transmission and distribution for the department of electric, said in a city setting it’s easy to get tunnel vision when looking at issues.
“Different backgrounds and perspectives (are good) as long as they’re aiming toward the same goal,” Pochard said.
The need for diversity training among city department heads and elected leaders was raised in July by Councilwoman Carla Fiehrer during a discussion about the city’s hiring practices. Council members agreed the city work force should be a reflection of its residence, and supported setting up training sessions.
“The greatest glory might not be not experiencing failure but rising when you do,” Hunter said during the first session Monday night. “Diversity is not just trying one thing.”
A main point illustrated by Hunter was the effect of socioeconomic environments on motivation. He compared the performance of Roberto, a poor high school student, to that of Michael, a wealthier student.
Roberto was found to work harder given his circumstances and actually exceeded his high school’s ACT score. But Michael stayed at the average level rather than try to go beyond it.
“Roberto excelled at his high school because he was more eager to learn,” said Councilman Tim Naab. “After a very initial learning curve, Roberto could improve better. You want someone that’s willing to learn rather than accept the average.”
Police Chief Neil Ferdelman said within the function of police it’s hard to please everyone.
“We do everything for everybody and I know half the people won’t like our response so we should try to do the right thing all the time,” Ferdelman said.
For City Manager Joshua Smith, diversity means exhibiting tolerance and understanding to all constituents. Smith said currently the city’s representation of diversity on its website is lacking
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or hpoturalski@coxohio.com.
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