First impressions - we all have them.  Lables - we're all given them.  Thinking about such things makes me feel unsafe; if not a bit paranoid.  "How do people percieve me?" "How do people think I am percieving them?"  But at a Diversity conference that brings together national practicioners of Multicultural training from all streams of institutions (public/private/corporate/non-profit) this should feel like a safe place...  *should*  

Yet, throw in a visible group of Christians... and yikes, it becomes unsafe for everyone. 

"When I walked into the room and saw there were all these people working for this 'Christian' group I immediately though 'oh no'"  - woman in my class 

Here are the challenges I am currently navigating:
- In the invisible minority:  what does it mean to push on a multiethnic conversation/teaching that is limiting its scope to only "black/white"?
- In the visible majority:  what does it mean to wear the label "Christian" (literally too - since it's in the name of my organization on my nametag) into a room of people where "Christians" are seen as embodying everything that is against the tolerance; openmindedness; and diversity which is being taught?

Greetings from MN, I'm Minneapolis for the MultiCultural Institute's Spring Conference.  I am attending the TOT II track.  It's the "Training of Trainers" curriculum the MCI has.  I'm in the "advanced" course learning how to facilitate Diversity Curriculum within our corporations/non-profits we work for. The other participants in our class are amazing. There is a woman who works for the Canadian Police Dept. (specifically Calgary).  Her job is to revamp the police dept's diversity training.  In my small group yesterday was a woman with a headcovering.  I was curious to know where she was from.  She is from Somolia.  To my left was a woman born in India who works at Wash U.  There is also a good mix of men/women and life stages/age. 

And yet in the mix of all of this, a little over a 1/3 of our class of 25 folk is from IV.  It's hard to ignore us.  I think it's good IV is here at this conference as it pushes us to continue to be relevant and engaging in the culture outside the Christian bubble as well as pushing the "Diversity and inclusion" champions of America to wrestle with interacting with Christians (who are often seen as quite intolerant).  

During our lunches, dinners, and evenings all of us from IV who are here (about 9) continue to meet together to pound out the Managing and Leading Diversity course we are doing for a select group of Black, Latino, Asian, and White IV staff (about 20-25 total) this June.  It's a honor to be sitting literally at the (conference) table with this distinguised group of men & women planning this training.