Diversity and Hiring Practices

Thanks for/to those who read the coverage of me in yesterday's Enquirer. Thanks to/for those of you who shared it and said words of affirmation about me in the subject line and comments. I am humbled and grateful by your public support of me and the church I'm privileged to serve. I also want to give love to my colleague Tom Ryberg and my dear sister/friend Martha Thawngmung for their kind words in that piece. It was an honor to spend time with Olivia Lewis and to have our faith community's ministry/work lifted up in print.

I emailed Olivia yesterday to thank her. But in all honesty I was at a loss for words. This morning I woke up with more to give, but it feels bigger than just Olivia, so I thought I'd blog about it.

The Enquirer has done local pastor profiles the entire time I have lived here and it wasn't until Olivia, a womyn of color, was brought on their staff that the FCC pastoral team got a glance for the progressive ministry we do. This is not a coincidence. Who Olivia is and who we are as a faith community--meeting up together in the press--is about what happens when progressive consciousness is given (note: there's power/privilege inherent in giving anything to anyone) the freedom and institutional support it needs to do its thing. 

When I hear talk about hiring practices and diversity it's often about hitting some number or filling some quota. This is total misalignment of justice, an institutional manifestation of privileged guilt and gets us nowhere. Bringing folks who have been historically marginalized (womyn, POC, disabled people, lgbtqiia people, immigrants, young people, etc) into the work place is not about marking off some professional, obligatory check list. It's about the quality of work that marginalized people bring because their consciousness, their interests, their commitments, their line of sight, and values are (not always but often) outside of the normative structures of knowledge. There are incredible skills and gifts outside of the status quo. That's what this is about. 

Indira Gandhi once said "mankind will endure when the world understands the logic of diversity." Yeah, and the work place, every work place, but especially those that work with/for humans, will flourish when the "logic" of diversity is made the number one priority. Again, not for statistics, but for the sake of quality. Different perspectives, embodiments, life-experiences make the quality of work/service/ministry better. It's not just about a "black female" perspective being included at the Enquirer, either. That's tokenizing. The story Olivia did on me was about church politics, feminism, sexism in the work place, and marriage issues in America. It was intersectional. Again, is it a coincidence that an intersectional life brought about intersectional coverage? I think not. A way of being/seeing in the world often translates to a way of working in the world. And we need that kind of work in our community. In fact, we need it everywhere if this country is to live into its creed. Certainly womyn and the black community can be more invested in and more proud of the Enquirer now that Olivia is here, but it's not just WOC that stand to benefit. We all do. The overall quality of our newspaper is better now that Olivia is here. Period. 

I don't know all that much about Olivia (she definitely holds a certain journalistic distance in her interactions; not cold but professionally poised) but I do know she was educated at an HBCU and she's been hired to cover stories on social justice. And since she's been here I have much more gumption to read my local paper. In her first three weeks of reporting she hasn't been channeling her energy in the good ole boy (corporate) network. She's gone to Voces, Sprout Urban Farms, the Urban League and I saw her last night at Women's Coop covering the "We Don't Want Them" community conversation about housing segregation in Detroit and Battle Creek. Again, this way of 'entering' community is not a coincidence. I'm sure Olivia could work the good ole boys with ease, but that's not her priority and thank God.

Having said all that, I've seen one too many young progressive humans come into BC excited about their work and leave sooner than necessary because the communal support they needed to sustain themselves just wasn't in place. I want Olivia to stay. So. I'm hoping that all of you who read her coverage of my work will keep reading her. And I hope that all citizens of BC (and beyond) who want journalistic integrity will read and support her. And I hope you will leave comments (of affirmation and criticism where due) on her articles to let her know she's impacting our community. She is open to hearing about social justice events and movements locally; so let's keep her in the know. You can find her on twitter and her email is listed on the Enquirer site. And, what about getting a subscription to the Enquirer if you don't already have one? They didn't have to make room on their staff assignments for explicit social justice stories. But they did. They should receive the affirmation and financial backing they deserve for that. I'm putting my money where my pen/mouth is today. I hope you'll do the same.