I recently visited a well-known commerce organization in Denver, invited by one of its directors to speak about the educational and community programs provided by the nonprofit I lead. However, I was not allowed to meet with the director because the receptionist didn’t believe I have been invited to the meeting.
She questioned my immigration status and asked several times why I was there. She didn’t believe me when I told her I am an American citizen and I were there because I have been invited to do a presentation.
A few days later, I attended a meeting at a big corporation in downtown Denver where I work as a consultant. The meeting was after hours, so I had to call security for them to open the door. They refused to do it.
I explained to them I was part of the team organizing the meeting. They say they couldn’t understand me so they called an interpreter who told me in Spanish I had to leave. Not even my credentials to access that building made any difference. I was simply not welcome there.
I could share many more examples like these ones, both mine and from others, including some recent remarks at a religious service in English question me for my decision of saying something in Spanish to my family.
These examples show that discrimination, intolerance, and prejudice are still present in our society. In fact, I think they have now reached the point where for some people it is impossible to accept that there are educated and successful Hispanic/Latino business people invited to participate at meetings in prestigious organizations.
Why we still face such unwelcoming attitudes if there are so many ways to communicate and if it is so obvious that there are rapid demographic changes in the country? Among many possible answers, I decided to share only one, based on statistics published in The Disillusioned Generation, by George Barna.
According to Barna, only 28 percent of American adults consider as “important for their lives” the community where they live. At the same time, two out of three adults believe you should only help to or request help from your immediate family and close friends. And less than 25 percent of those adults follow any kind of religious teaching as a source of inspiration for important decisions.
If we don’t see the community as something important, if we don’t allow any room in our lives for good, traditional teachings, and if we only interact with those close to us and who are like us, then perhaps we don’t know there is a world out there with real people who are not like us.
As a result, when we meet persons who are not like us, we lack any paradigm for positive interaction in a context of diversity in languages, ethnicities, and cultures. We can’t see those persons. We only see our own stereotypes.
Living inside our own limited world generates fear, and fear creates stereotypes and hinders any dialogue.