Diversity

Is There Such a Thing as “Reverse” Stereotypes?

(This is the first excerpt of a multipart blog to unravel during the coming weeks.) My life hasn’t been much different from any other life of a young adult from northern Illinois. Since I was young, my family supported me in all of my decisions and always pushed me to be my best and pursue my aspirations. Because of my family’s influence, I always strove to be the best both academically and outside of the classroom with extracurricular activities. As high school in a different, yet similar small town to […]

Make A Positive Impact in Your Home

At our summer camps for girls and summer camps for boys, we try to be intentional about fostering a culturally competent atmosphere that is welcoming to everybody. Here are some good tips, culled from a calendar from the Anti-Defamation League, detailing how you can make a positive impact in your home. Be an ally – speak out against jokes and slurs that target people or groups. Support young children’s curiosity about diversity in our world. Visit ADL’s Question Corner at www.adl.org for ideas on how. Stop e-mail bigotry at your computer. Forward […]

Challenging Your Own Biases in All Situations

At our summer camps near Chicago, we emphasize challenging ourselves and celebrating and appreciating the identity of self and others, and the importance of challenging your own biases. Below is a verbatim capsule of great tips from the 2013 calendar from the Anti-Defamation League. Everyone, even those who may make sincere efforts to be aware of their use of language, may find themselves inadvertently using language, or making an insensitive comment, that hurts others. While the intent may have been innocent, the impact of the words may deeply affect the […]

Make a Positive Impact in Your Workplace

At our multicultural summer camp, we try to be intentional about fostering a culturally competent atmosphere that is welcoming to everybody. Here are some good tips, culled from a calendar from the Anti-Defamation League, detailing how you can make a positive impact in your workplace. Offer professional development workshops that help all employees understand and respect individual work and communication styles. Be understanding and supportive of co-workers when they are observing religious and/or cultural holidays. If a co-worker makes an insensitive racial, ethnic or religious comment, respond by respectfully pointing […]

Youth Committed to Diversity Education

At our multicultural summer camp, we recognize that children crave global unity, acceptance of each other, and understanding. Here’s a cool video showing how tomorrow’s leaders address language discrimination and the importance of accepting others. While we’re pondering diversity and acceptance, check out this Chicago-based organization, Genesis at the Crossroads which uses arts education to bring cultures in conflict together globally.

Multiculturalism is Better than Colorblindness

I recently came across an article, which articulates well why and how we try to celebrate and appreciate difference at our multicultural camp. Below is a summary (in her words) of the full article by Monnica T. Williams, PhD. What is racial colorblindness? Colorblindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race, culture, or ethnicity. At its face value, colorblindness seems like a good thing — really taking MLK seriously on his call to judge people […]

Embracing Our Differences

Below is a piece by Lee Mun Wah, renowned facilitator of multicultural and diversity exercises. It so encapsulated what we try to do at our multicultural summer camp that I thought it most poignant to reproduce it in its entirety. It comes from a recent newsletter from his organization, Stir Fry Seminars, and is available at this link. “Recently, at a training I was facilitating, a young white man adamantly shared that he didn’t see differences in people and thought that my talking about our differences only added to our […]

5 Ways White Feminists Can Address Our Own Racism

Kupugani camp director passed an article onto me titled “5 Ways White Feminists Can Address Our Own Racism”. Given my work at a girls-only summer camp, I was instantly intrigued; how can feminists be racist when their cause is for gender empowerment and equality? This article put an array of subjects into perspective for me. A particular quote stood out for me: “People don’t remember what you say or do but rather how you make them feel.” The article essentially outlined many of the things Camp Kupugani stands for. We […]

Encourage Kids to Appreciate Diversity

At Camp Kupugani, as a multicultural summer camp that is intentional in our empowerment and safely challenging our campers, we teach about and bleed diversity. It’s part of our mission and as such we are in a structurally and intentionally diverse environment. But what can you do if you’re at home and not necessarily in a diverse and supportive environment? How then to facilitate those important lessons? One article I checked out recently emphasizes: “Parents are uniquely positioned to guide their children to appreciate the differences that make each of us […]

Properly Serving a Changing Population

A recent Today show piece touted that Caucasian children won’t comprise the majority of children born in the U.S. within 5 or 6 years. This story isn’t news to us at our multicultural summer camp, which has been emphasizing serving who our population actually is for many years. It’s interesting now that is increasingly in the public eye. It hasn’t been news for a while. From the 2010 US census, non-Hispanic white children ages 5 to 17 (or roughly “camp age”) comprise only about 55.5% of that segment. “Minority” children […]

Should Black History Month Be Cause for Celebration?

February means Black History Month. For some—an occasion for celebration; for others—cause for dismay. For all, February gives rise to a (short) month-long recognition of the achievements of African-Americans. Black History Month began 32 years ago as an expansion of Negro History Week, established fifty years prior by Carter G. Woodson. Building on the efforts of others, Woodson conceived of the event as a national celebration, seeking to appeal to whites and blacks and to improve race relations. At first, the Week was celebrated almost exclusively by African Americans; however, […]

Appreciating MLK by Tackling Race and Identity Issues

It has been almost 45 years since the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. A good time to reflect on the issue of race and racism in America. Despite a lot of fear and denial that race is still an issue or being used as an issue, dialogue seems to proceed in fits and starts in this country. Unfortunately, race and racism continues to permeate American institutions, corporations, schools, and communities. Our avoiding the difficult conversations with our families or in our workplaces makes our children pay for our silence […]