Fresno State is celebrating diversity with a week full of cultural dances, spiritual exploration, a poetry jam, talks by activists and more.
The Diversity Awareness Week was kicked off Monday with an opening ceremony in front of the library which featured music, performers and distribution of information for the rest of the week.
Monday night the Student Satellite Union featured ‘Exploring Diversity Spiritual Belief System,’ presented by the President’s Forum which encouraged people to explore and discuss spirituality.
Special guest speaker and author, Dr. Najeeba Syeed-Miller spoke about three main topics: hope, humiliation and being whole.
“A good professor forms questions rather than just giving you the answers,” Syeed-Miller said. “Not only are we going to talk about diversity — we are going to have a discussion.”
Dr. Kenneth Magdaleno, co-vice chair of the President’s Commission on Human Relations and Equity, said diversity week is important for students.
“It’s a gaining of knowledge as to different cultures, different ideas, different religions in this case,” Magdaleno said. “The reason it’s called intersectionality is because how does one affect the other? Whether it’s gender, whether it’s race, it’s important to Fresno State students because the more we know about each other the less we will be afraid of each other.”
Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
“Having those discussions really lessens the unknown,” Magdaleno said. “Seeing their humanness, seeing that they are really no different, seeing that they have some of the same concerns, seeing that they have some of the same ideas, they have families, you know we forget that sometimes.”
Magdaleno said not knowing makes many people afraid and getting to know one another helps us accept each other.
“When we hear someone speaking another language and we don’t know what they are saying it makes us uncomfortable,” Magdaleno said.
Understanding other people’s culture helps to get rid of that fear, Magdaleno said.
Syeed-Miller said she believes bullying and war begins with a process.
“If I see you as human I cannot harm you,” Syeed-Miller said. “When you dehumanize someone is when you harm them.The worst thing we can do is listen and not do anything about it.”
We should listen to a person’s problem first before trying to input our suggestions, Syeed-Miller said, because at times people make suggestions without understanding the whole situation, but that we should also lend our help if they want it.
Kalisha Goodwin, lead student coordinator for the Cross Culture and Gender Center, said that this week’s ongoing events on diversity are important because they create awareness.
“It is important to our development as students,” Goodwin said. “It’s helped me in my development.”
Goodwin said that by having such a diverse student population at Fresno State it’s helped her prepare for real world career jobs as she completes her master’s degree in student affairs.
“None of my relationships are the same,” Goodwin said. “Academically and socially.”
Goodwin said that because she interacts with such a diverse group of people all of her experiences are different.
Events like this help bring people together and increases cross-cultural interactions, Goodwin said.
“I’m really just happy seeing people comfortable within a diverse group,” Goodwin said.
This Wednesday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. the Cross Cultural and Gender Center will be hosting a Diversity Dinner in the Vintage Room along with other events throughout the week that have been dedicated to diversity awareness.