Not diverse, just tan.

I felt compelled to share my reaction to an article my colleague Chris posted not long ago on Twitter. Specifically, he posted a piece from Diverse Issues in Higher Education, "Interview: The Tanning of America with Dr. Marcia Alesan Dawkins" which in turn links to the article, "The Future of the 'Tan Generation'" from The Root. A primary theme is that the increased multiculturalism in America--children under the age of 1 were more likely (50.4%) to be nonwhite than white at the time of the 2010 census--will not necessarily lead to increased social justice.

It was the words chosen that gave me particular pause. I had little issue with the term Tan Generation. The mean skin tone of our nation is likely tan, and while the root is the fact that we're dealing in skin color, not culture here, black, white, and brown have been in the lexicon long enough that this is simply its natural progression. Further, my daughter, who is biracial (black/white), would likely select a tan crayon to draw herself, as would many from across the United States from various cultural and racial backgrounds. It's a bit clumsy, but it fits.

The title that Diverse chose, "...The Tanning of America..." bothered me, however. They took tan from a noun or an adjective into a verb and used it in a way that to me implied a specific action. Tanning, as we most commonly use it, is a process through which fairer-skinned--largely white--people expose themselves to the sun to increase melanin production and ultimately appear darker. Science aside, this says to me a couple of things: America is "supposed" to be white, despite a current trend to the contrary. It also says that we view America as primarily homogenized--that the only difference is pigmentation, ignoring facets of cultural and experience that are what we should really be addressing when we talk about diversity.

The original message was that a rise in population diversity would not necessarily lead to a rise in social justice and cross-cultural understanding. The title chosen helped hammer this point home in a way it may not have intended.