By QUEENIE BYARS
As communicators, we occasionally are reminded that art imitates life. But seldom does the lesson ring so true as with the connection between diversity and the ratings success of “Dancing with the Stars” (DWTS). Entering its 14th season, ABC’s hit variety show features a combination of dancing, storytelling and diversity — a Disney Company trait that harkens back to the early days of founders Walt and Roy Disney.
I’ll be honest with you. Before last year, I hadn’t thought a lot about diversity, and I should have. I received a minority scholarship when I went to college, and after graduation it was always part of each of my career opportunities and organizational service, but it wasn’t until I attended the 2010 PRSA National Leadership Assembly that I saw what a difference it makes. While there, we saw a presentation where Chapters around the U.S. were really taking diversity to the next level.
Recently New York legalized same sex marriage signaling a seismic shift in the quest for gay couples to gain state recognition of their unions. As important as that is, a larger shift is happening as the Pentagon implements policies to allow gays to serve openly in the armed services beginning Sept. 20, 2011. The military leader most responsible for the shift toward diversity and fairness is Admiral Michael Glenn Mullen.
On Oct. 1 Mullen will step down as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and retire from the U.S. military. His record of supporting diversity will not go unnoticed by those who served with him during Mullen’s 43 years in the military, nor by history.
This piece was originally published on the Saxum Perspective Blog.
Last month, I was invited to speak with a group of South Asian students visiting The Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication at The University of Oklahoma. The workshop was about new media and its impact on democracies in the 21st century. I met with 20 students from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Naturally, the Arab Spring was a major topic of discussion.
According to the Arab Social Media Report, at the end of the first quarter of 2011, there were 27.7 million Facebook users in the Arab world, a 30 percent jump from the beginning of the year.