Heritage Pride Day: 9.20.07 – Part I

You may be wondering why I waited two days after this event to post a blog entry about it. Well, I could say that I am from the school of thought that prefers reflection over speculation. Or that I prefer hindsight, which is always twenty-twenty, to foresight, which is very much in need of some very thick bifocaled lenses. But the truth is, with everything we had to do to pull this event together, this is the first opportunity I’ve had for reflection in weeks!  I can’t even remember the last time I sat still this long.

In my usual style, I’d like to talk a bit about the inception of Heritage Pride Day before I reflect on the event itself. So this entry will provide you with a little background. And the next entry will be a reflection on the event – with pictures and all. Don’t worry it will follow very closely on the heels of this one.

Unfortunately there has been no shortage of offensive speech in the media and frankly in general lately. I will not belabor the point by listing all of the examples, because to do so will allow negativity to monopolize today’s message thereby undermining its purpose. So suffice it to say, just about every ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and gender has been disrespected lately. It’s like an epidemic.

When these things happen, one can react in many different ways. But for the sake of simplicity, I will streamline those reactions into two categories. And I will treat those categories as two steps. The first step, and of course the natural reaction for most of us, is to become angry and manifest our disgust by letting our voices be heard. To demonstrate that we simply will not stand for such speech and that it should not and will not be tolerated. But equally important is step two. You see, after we have manifested our anger, it becomes time to manifest our pride.

Such speech is usually intended to chip away at our pride. And we must demonstrate that we are absolutely not going to let it. The MCLSA was determined to lead Roger Williams University through this important step. We conceived a day of positivity. A day to recognize that multiculturalism is something to be embraced and celebrated. A day to celebrate individualism and to recognize the richness of diversity here at Roger Williams University. And to declare in one voice that we are all proud of our Heritage and that pride cannot be eclipsed by negativity. It is bigger than that.

And Heritage Pride Day was born....