What comes to mind when you think of DEI? Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Most people think, ‘treat everyone equally.’
Although this is true to a certain extent, we should treat everyone equally by the law; not everything needs to be the same for everyone, which is what SDLC has taught me.
I recall hearing Sekou Andrew’s talk about being yourself. Let yourself be heard. Don’t assimilate to the norms.
Act like a kid at the water park trying to get their mother’s attention. “Splash splash.” That was the motto for the Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) this year.
At first, opening up about my life experiences to other people was difficult. I did not want to separate from my group of people from Laguna Blanca.
I was scared to have other people hear me. Then I realized that that’s what I was there for: To open up about experiences that I have kept locked up inside my mind.
I was finally able to express myself. The first day had the Silent Movement. The Silent Movement was a moment to identify yourself with multiple identifiers.
Once someone heard their identifier, they would stand up, and the head of SDLC, Rodney Glasgow, direct us to, “Look who is identifying in this way. Look who is not identifying in this way.”
He would then ask a question. “What does freedom mean for these people?”
I recall finally feeling safe to stand up for a specific identifier, which I was hesitant to identify with before this Silent Movement.
We then moved on to Family Groups, which covered different topics. I was placed into the Reflection Group, where we were asked to reflect in journals about our life experiences and then share with the class if we were comfortable.
Although each family group was different, they were all about expressing your lived experiences in a safe and shared space.
My favorite part, however, was affinity groups. In affinity groups, students who identified in the same or similar way got together to share experiences about that specific identity, like culture, prejudices, flaws, politics, etc.
Affinity groups included, but were not limited to, Latiné, Asian, Middle East, LGBTQ, Mixed Race, etc.
I attended the Latiné affinity group, where we talked about the machismo that runs among men in Latino households, as well as how the outcome of the recent US elections can affect most of our community.
At both of these events, I met some of the people I most identified with, Lara Davila, who shared very similar experiences to my experience being from a Latino community.
Freshman Kevin Lu recalls his experiences in both affinity and family groups.
“I think SDLC is that place where people can truly be themselves, and there are also people that have the same experience/mind/ethnicity as me, which allowed me to fully exchange ideas without thinking about others may not understand your situation.”
It was a place where all of us could be ourselves in a safe, but unfiltered space. We were happy.
Laguna Blanca DEI Director Ursula Chan shared her favorite part of the conference.
“You know what was the best part for me? When I would pick you up, you all would share how happy you were, what a fun day you had, what great connections you made, and how comfortable you felt.”
