This morning, Karen Attiah of the Washington Post observed the difference between diversity and integration. Through remarks on Twitter (@KarenAttiah), in a thread quoted below, Attiah notes the greater importance of integration over mere acknowledgments of diversity —
(1) I didn’t get a chance to say it on @TheTakeaway with @tanzinavega but I was struck when @farai said that we are still integrating our newsrooms decades after the civil rights movement.
I think this is a much better word than “diversity”. And shows how slow progress has been.
(2) Diversity is a given. The world is full of diverse people, view points and backgrounds.
Integration takes work, vigilance, and an active effort to make a space reflect the demographic diversity of the outside world.
(3) Or, more bluntly, you could say we are still working to de-segregate many elite spaces.
I guess a position entitled “Chief Desegregation Officer”—-
Or “Office of Desegregation and Integration”—-
Those hit a little different, don’t they?
Yes, they do.