COMMENTARY: Diversity Winning Strategy

Schools, Communities Should Embrace Inclusion, Not Isolation

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

— Franklin D. Roosevelt

“And the beat goes on, and the beat goes on and on and on.”

— Sonny and Cher

Recently Danie Shewmaker, a trustee for NorthWest Arkansas Community College, challenged college president Becky Paneitz and her staff to “do better” in hiring minorities for the college. Beverly Hill, the college’s employee relations and diversity manager, said the school’s ultimate goal is to get the most qualified candidate for each position. (Well, that clears that up!) But I am here to tell you, diversity can be a winning strategy for the school, and I am proof of it.

Correction

Daniel Shewmaker is a trustee of NorthWest Arkansas Community College. A previous version of this story misidentified him.

Right after graduating high school, I enrolled in Central Florida Community College in Ocala, Fla. While many of my friends had gone directly to the big schools, such as University of Florida or Florida State, I was paying for my tuition. That made my decision very easy. Although working a full-time job, I still had trouble saving enough money for college when it would be time to transfer. That was when I met Jake.

At the student union building there were two pingpong tables. At lunch time, there was usually a group of white students playing at one; while black students played at the other table. Having honed my table tennis skills in my basement under the supervision of my competitive father, I was looking for a game but the “white” table was clogged with players. Walking over to the second table where Jake had just finished dispatching his foe, I nervously said “I’ve got next?” His big smile quickly allayed any concerns and we became fast friends on the spot.

Several weeks later, over lunch, Jake laid out a business proposal. Having beaten him and everyone else, Jake suggested he act as my “bookie” where he would set up games at a dollar each, and we would split the earnings. His tactics were brilliantly simple: he would work the “black” table, goading the prospective opponents with the taunt of “can’t you beat that skinny white boy?” For the record, recent photo verification indeed confirms at that age I was painfully skinny, with shoulder-length hair to boot.

Business was booming and we normally cleared $8 to $10 per day. After running through our clientele base, we were forced to come up with a new “angle” to get enough paying customers. We solved that by adding the challenge that I would use for my paddle whatever textbook my opponent chose for me. What they did not understand was it was fairly easy to block a shot back with a book, and it also had the effect of deadening the pingpong ball, making hitting errors common. Jake and I ended that school year with hundreds of dollars.

Now, jumping to the present day, diversity continues to be part of my daily life. My wife is from Brazil and English is her second language. Despite that challenge, she has just finished her classes for a master in American comparative literature at the University of Arkansas. Knowing full well the challenges immigrants face with English, she is a volunteer at the Benton County Literacy Center, which does tremendous work in that effort. Some students wait as long as a year to get a volunteer to work with them. (Hey, call them up if you want to help.)

This got me thinking about State Senator Bryan King of Green Forest who just proposed a tough new voter identification bill for our state. For those of you who don’t know him, Mr. King also tried to get the written exam for a driver’s license to be administered in English only. In case you are wondering when voter fraud and Spanish exams became such an issue for the people of Green Forest, don’t bother. It’s not. Perhaps what is more pressing for Sen. King is Green Forest is now 33.2 percent Hispanic.

According to Mireya Reith of the Arkansas United Community Coalition, the number of immigrants voting in Arkansas has more than doubled since 2008. Here in Bentonville, our diversity number is 17.7 percent and growing.

So you can see David Shewmaker has it right in reminding all of us that the best solution for all of us is inclusion, not isolation. Which makes me think, is there a pingpong table at NWACC?

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SEY YOUNG IS A LOCAL BUSINESSMAN, HUSBAND, FATHER AND LONGTIME RESIDENT OF BENTONVILLE

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