Welcome to May, Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Month. As you celebrate this month please make sure you honor the diversity within the AANHPI communities.

I’ve been reading the book Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter. It isn’t a book about race, and it is written by a white male author – not that great on the diversity scale, but it is a quick read and I’ve been extracting themes and ideas from it for other work. As I’ve been reading the book, I’ve been thinking about race and how comfortable we often feel or not feel regarding race.

The main premise of the first 100-ish pages (that is as far in as I’ve gotten) is we design our lives around being comfortable. Human evolution leads us to comfort. Being uncomfortable shakes us out of our known patterns which helps us learn. Being uncomfortable is important to growing in new ways. I’m oversimplifying the text, but those universal truths hold true.

For most of us in the Western world, we live in comfortable ways. We live in temperature controlled environments, we have access to basic needs – water, food, sanitation, we have access to information, and so forth. For many of us who are even more privileged we rarely are bored or without something to do. All of this leads to a very comfortable lives.

We also curate our comfort around identity.

How often are we with people who make us uncomfortable? Not very often. Many people choose who they associate with because it is comfortable — I don’t want to be with people who keep me on edge all of the time, no thank you.

Earlier today I listened to the keynote address given by Stacy Abrams at the Collective Impact Summit (a really good online conference, check it out next year). She talked about the power of diversity and how challenging it is to embed diversity into our work. Diversity is tolerated as long as it is proximate to the dominate narrative. Diversity challenges our comfort zones. Being around people who are different than us makes our brains work harder. It also challenges the status quo of groups when you layer in different viewpoints, ways of communicating, and other forms of diversity.

I know a lot of people who claim to like diversity, but when true diversity arises, they shrink back. Explained another way – people move into gentrifying neighborhood but keep their same friend group, only visit the gentrifier coffeeshops, hire diverse people but don’t retain or promote them, and so on.

Democracy demands we embrace a bigger ‘we,’ a learning from the Collective Impact conference. Embracing diversity and working through the discomfort of diversity is important to enacting and thriving in a democratic society. This can be uncomfortable for many who are used to being catered to, having their needs met first, and overall comfortable.

We can challenge ourselves to being more uncomfortable around race. Maybe you need baby steps to being uncomfortable with race – start with changing your media consumption. Or if you’re ready for bigger steps, find a group where you will not be in the majority and join in – please do this carefully so you aren’t gentrifying the space. If the space is meant as a Black only space, don’t try to join if you’re not Black. Challenge yourself to find ways to be uncomfortable with race and be ok with having moments where you feel lonely, unsure, or even like you failed in the space – you haven’t that is the learning moment of what it is like to not being catered to.  

---

Thank you to our Patreon subscribers. At this time I don’t offer ‘extras’ or bonuses for Patreons. I blog after working a full-time job, volunteer and family commitments thus it is hard to find time to create more content. Whatever level you are comfortable giving pays for back-end costs, research costs, supporting other POC efforts, etc. If your financial situation changes please make this one of the first things you turn-off — you can still access the same content and when/if you can re-subscribe I’ll appreciate it.

Adrienne, Aimie, Alayna, Alessandra, Alexa, Aline, Alison FP, Alison P, Allison, Amanda, Amber, Amira, Amy, Amy K, Amy P, Amy R, Andie, Andrea J, Andrea JB, Andy, Angelica, Ashlie, Ashlie B., Barb, Barbara, Barrett, Betsy, Big Duck, Brad, Brenda, Bridget, Brooke B, Brooke DW, Cadence, Caitlin, Calandra, Callista, Cari, Carmen, Carolyn, Carrie B, Carrie C, Carrie S, Catherine, Cathy & David, Chelsea, Christina C, Clara, Clark, Clark G., Courtney, Dan, dana, Danielle, Danya, Debbie, Debbie S., Dede, DeEtta, Denyse, Dennis, Dennis F, Diane, Don, Ed, Edith, Eileen, Elizabeth, Emily, Erica J, Erin, Frances, Gene, Genita, Hannah, Hayden, Heidi and Laura, Heidi, Hilary, J Elizabeth, Jaime, Jake, James, Jane, Janet, Jelena, Jen C, Jen E, Jen H, Jena, Jenn, Jennet, Jennifer, Jess, Jessica F, Jessica G, Jillian, John, Jon, Julia, Juliet, June, Karen, Kate, Kathryn, Katie O, Kawai, Kelly, Kiki, Kimberly, Kyla, LA Progressive, Laura, Lauren, Leslie, Linda M, Lisa C, Lisa P-W, Lisa S, Liz, Lola, Lori, Lyn, Maegan, Maggie, Maile, Maki, Marc, Mareeha, Marilee, Matthew, Maura, Melissa, Melody, Michael, Mickey, Migee, Mike, Mindy, Misha, Molly, Nat, Nicole, paola, Peggy, PMM, Porsche, Rachel, Raquel, Rebecca, Robin, Ryan, Sally, Sally P., Sandra, Sarah B, Sarah D, Sarah H, Sarah KB, Sarah R, Sarah S, Sarita, Selma, Sharon B, Sharon Y, Shaun, Shawna, Siobhan, Steph, Stephanie, Stephanie J-T, Steve, Su, Sue, Sue C D, T Wang, Tania DSA, Tania TD, Tara, tash, Teddi, Tim, Tracy TG, Venu, virginia, Vivian, Wan-Lin, Ward, Wendy, and Zan

Thank you for subscribing. Please check fakequity.com for the most up-to-date version of the post. I often make grammatical and stylistic corrections after the first publishing which shows up in your inbox. To subscribe — on the right sidebar (desktop version) is a subscribe box. To see what I’m reading and recommended books check out the Fakequity Bookshop. I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org where your purchases support local bookstores. I earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. The commission goes into purchasing books by POC authors or about disabilities to donate to high-poverty public schools.