DIVERSITY: NOUN, ADJECTIVE, OR VERB Hearing the word diversity over and over and over managing diversity diversity hiring recruiting diversity. Noun or adjective it’s only a word. Without action it’s only a symbol. Without commitment it’s only a sound. Without strong voices in unison it’s only a phase without change. Diversity is the nice word we use now to cover up the pain and gut-wrenching agony, the words of feelings, histories, stories we can’t stand to hear more about. Because it means we face the raw, bare-boned reality that we keep leaving out the same people over and over again and the loss we suffer in their absence is too great to face. So we don’t call it racism. We don’t call it homophobia. We don’t call it pain for us all. We call it diversity. We talk about it. We talk around it. We talk. Diversity is an empty word unless we can make it an Action Verb. ~ Kate Kissinger ~ Diversity as a Good or Value? Considerations for Multicultural Initiatives Sherry K. Watt, Kira Pasquesi, Jodi Linley