Understanding DEI Through My European Colleagues

Understanding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion through my European Colleagues This post explores one area of great discussion. Fair warning: it may stir up feelings. I recently had a thoughtful conversation on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) with European colleagues spread across Europe, plus a few in South Africa. We worked through different DEI topics. The discussion took many enlightening turns. I learned a lot about race relations, dealing with atrocities, and how language carries identity. I don’t want to flatten their voices into a European monolith. But they gave me golden nuggets that have helped me frame DEI conversations outside the United States. We discussed the Holocaust, Apartheid, and current social unrest in Russia. I didn’t know what to expect. The conversation was thought-provoking, and my colleagues left me with three points that stuck: 1) Denialism is dangerous and needs to be called out to prevent these tragedies from happening again. The Holocaust happened. It killed millions of Jewish people (and Germans too), and it threatened the world. In South Africa, apartheid devastated people of color through institutionalized racial segregation. Yet some people still deny these events ever happened. Two colleagues kept saying it was shameful and must never happen again. We must be united on that front. Educate. Reiterate the expectation that we are all in this together. Love our neighbors. 2) We must be proactive in scanning for systematic racism, oppression, and persecution. These are the same conditions that enabled totalitarianism to take hold during Hitler’s reign. Hitler came and stayed in power because many denied the gruesome acts he was committing against Jewish people and others. Locals looked the other way and said, “I am just doing my job.” Same story with South Africa’s Apartheid. An all-white government enforced racial segregation in every part of life. Non-whites were denied participation in government and lawmaking, which perpetuated their inability to build meaningful lives and have any say in their country. 3) We must speak truth to power with clarity about these injustices. Our silence serves only the oppressor. We should love and support our neighbors and come to the defense of those who cannot fend for themselves, because that is the right thing to do. Support begins with getting to know one another. Be willing to be uncomfortable. Talk about sensitive topics that some may dread. Again, silence serves the oppressor, not the victim. Our dialogue was complex. And it was reassuring to hear the frank discussion around race relations and how we all have a role in preventing tragedies like these from happening again. I didn’t expect this conversation. But I was grateful to experience it through the lens of my European colleagues.