By Mansfield Frazier
It’s an oft-stated premise that diversity doesn’t just happen on its own in America … and especially in older Midwest towns like Cleveland; inclusion really has to be worked at. Smart, progressive companies, organizations and institutions realize this and set up Offices of Diversity or at the very least dedicate some staffer to assure that everyone gets the memo that inclusion is now the new order of the day. Nonetheless, some folks — even in 2013 — still don’t “get it.”
I received an email inviting me to an event on Superior Avenue near downtown where local food was to be featured as part of an exhibit of the work of local photographers, yet not one restaurant, food provider or urban farmer of color was included on the list. My first reaction was, “Hey, black folks eat (and take photographs for that matter) too you know!”
I popped into the event and my suspicions were confirmed; I was the only person of color among the 75 or so folks mingling about. Admittedly (and fortunately) it was a somewhat older crowd; one in which a lack of diversity isn’t so surprising. Younger people tend to be much more inclusive … thank goodness.
Now if the event had been held in one of the far reaches of the county, east or west, I could have more readily understood the lack of inclusion … which still is more the norm than the exception in certain enclaves. But right downtown? Especially when places like Rid-All Green Partnership (which grows excellent crops and tilapia in their huge greenhouses) has been around for a number of years now. And Stone Town, a new restaurant on Prospect, serves excellent fare, much of it sourced locally.
I can imagine the event promoters saying, “Gee, we didn’t know about them” but the point is, they probably didn’t make much of an effort to find out either. If the event being held was a Klan rally, or a meeting of the local Republican Party (sorry, I simply couldn’t resist picking low-hanging fruit), I, again, could readily understand a lack of diversity… but when so-called bright progressives associated with the arts, culture, sustainability, urban farming and the locovore movement stage events that racially resemble a Medina High School Class Reunion, circa 1970, (or, for that matter, East Tech, circa the same year) something is wrong with the picture.
I fail to understand why folks of all races, ethnicities and cultures don’t see the benefits of inclusion … that is, if we want to shed our image of being a provincial backwater and move into the 21st Century. The local food movement is set to really take off in Cleveland … but one sure way to limit its growth is to continue with our old apartheid ways.
This is not to accuse those who fail to make diversity a part of their agenda of being racists … stupid maybe, but not racists. Therefore I’m instituting an effort to bring an end to the narrow-mindedness that result in a lack of inclusion.
I’m still working through what guise this effort should take: Should I develop an alternate persona — a mild-mannered writer and vintner most of the time, and the caped and masked superhero Captain Diversity when the situation calls for it — or do I become some sort of jack-booted “Diversity Czar” (complete with jodhpurs, riding boots and a leather crop — and maybe even a monocle — enforcing diversity via fiat or governmental decree?). Of course I could take the cutesy and less threatening route of becoming some sort of friendly elfish cartoonist character, a harmless little symbol like the Cleveland Browns mascot. (Which probably is why the other teams in the league walk all over us … but I digress).
I’m kind of torn in regards to what works best — handing out diversity/inclusion awards to those who “get it” — or writing nasty articles naming those who don’t. I clearly prefer the former, but, as my regular readers know, I won’t shy away from the latter if that is what it takes.
This isn’t my first foray into the diversity arena. A few years ago Cool Cleveland readers helped me by sending emails to Lee Valley Tools, a Canadian tool and gardening supply manufacturer that sent me this beautiful catalog … containing images of only white folks. I sent the catalog back and then contacted Robin Lee, the CEO of the company. He assured me his workforce resembled the United Nations and that he made it a point to hire the handicapped and developmentally disabled. My question again was why no persons of color in the otherwise beautiful catalog?
Lee was initially offended that I raised the question (he thought I was accusing him of being a racist, but what I was merely pointing out was that he simply wasn’t being inclusive) but I knew he was so bright that after he calmed down and received the dozens of protest emails I asked my loyal readers to send him, that he would see things differently. It worked.
In fact, Robin Lee was man enough to email me last year and say that his sales had gone up in the previous 12-month period, and he believes that including persons of color in his catalog was, in part, responsible. He found out what I already knew: money is green, and that diversity actually pays.
So, I’m again reaching out to Cool Cleveland readers. When you see a lack of diversity … be it on the east or west of town, be the hosts or event organizers white or black … speak up and say something, or at the very least get an email address and send them this article.
We all have an obligation to do everything we possibly can to put Cleveland back on the map in as positive a manner … and hosting racially exclusive events is not the way to get there. We all have to do more to get outside our cozy little comfort zones if we truly want to fulfill our potential to become that shining, truly modern “Green City on a Blue Lake.”
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.