My Thoughts on Diversity From Triston Cofer of Stroudsburg South.
By Triston X. Cofer-Walcott
I don’t get it! Why are we even dealing with this topic? Aren’t we all members of the human race? Aren’t we all created by the same God? Aren’t we here to help each other become the best people we can be? Maybe I just haven’t been exposed to the worst of human life yet. Maybe I’m just too young to understand this level of inhumanity. I come from a diverse family. My mother is African American, my Father is Jamaican, my grandmother’s maternal grandfather is American-Indian and African-American and we have cousins who are bi-racial (Caucasian and African-American). We don’t discriminate against each other because of our cultural differences or skin colors that go from very light to very dark. The thought never crosses our minds. Knowing that discrimination is a big problem in the world that I will one day grow up and be an adult in makes me want to stay a kid. Why would I want to be part of such a world? How can today’s children expect to become tomorrow’s leaders knowing we will have to deal with the inhumanity today’s adults have created and continue to promote and support. I think people make too many excuses when it comes to why discrimination, hatred, and fear of one another cannot be eliminated. Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but I refuse to be a part of any of it. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” And whether other people choose to accept this or not, failure to embrace diversity and learn from it is nothing but another form of hate.
