PISSITIVITY...2ND EDITION! (Lack of Diversity)

I was in a meeting today and I happen to notice that there were many women there. Most of the people in the meeting were women. That is fine. There are more women in the world and in my place of employment so I would expect that. What I did not expect to see with my very observant eyes is that I was the only male of color in the room. It is unbelievable to me. I can run the numbers in my scientific mind and think of the probability of seeing this since there are quite a few black men that work here and yes I do mean few, I just feel that out of 25 plus people...more on the end of 30 there would be more than just one black male in the room.

This is not the only situation in which I have been the only male of color in the room. I have in my programs at Brookhaven, at events with other scientists, heck even in the other meetings at work...my meetings that I facilitate...I am the only male of color. Why does this piss me off? It is because there should be...notice I said should be diversity in all things. I am not a racist or a sexist, but there should be equality in and for all.

So we have a half black male president of the United States, and it took over 200 years for there to be one. How long will it be for a woman of any creed? How long will it take for a black woman or a woman of any creed to serve as a judge on the U.S. Supreme Court? They should have female football teams, female football coaches, paternity leave, male contraceptives, and so on.

I may be a dreamer in these things but I don't feel that I am...there are some wonderful lady scientists in fact there is one that I have met in the photo below:



that is Dr. Shirley Jackson standing next to me, who happens to be the first black woman to earn a PhD in Physics from M.I.T. Massachusetts Institute of Technology! I am very proud to have chatted with her and to have this photo taken...yes at a science convention!

What's the deal here? Is diversity too much to ask for in a world in which we are supposed to be color and gender blind? What say you?