After reading about the "ethnic remark" recently made by the chairman of the Carroll County Planning and Zoning Commission ("Planning chairman apologizes for ethnic comment," The Eagle, Jan. 24), and the subsequent call for sensitivity training for key public officials in our county, I feel a need to address a number of concerns.

As someone who has participated in and conducted diversity training, I am aware of the limits of diversity training when it is treated as an event, rather than a process.

For training to be effective, it cannot simply be an event offered every three or four years. There needs to be an ongoing, strong personal commitment on the part of Chairman David Brauning and others.

This commitment comes from within, but it also comes from county leaders. Public officials need to treat diversity just as corporations treat diversity: as an asset that needs to be understood, valued and leveraged.

All of us — public officials in particular — need to develop cultural awareness, understanding and skills.

These same officials need to understand why this type of training is a bottom-line issue. When a comment such as Mr. Brauning uttered is made by a public official, some Carroll countians may develop the perception, rightly or wrongly, that our government does not represent everyone, or that this is not the kind of place where I want to live and work and raise my children.

Last year, a member of the Carroll County Board of Education made an offensive racial remark, only his was directed at African-Americans. While a healthy community-wide discussion ensued, I wonder, what did we learn from this experience?

As we look back, did we call for real change in this instance? If we did, were we looking for answers that took the form of an event, or an ongoing process?

Richard Bucher

Mount Airy

---

user comments (0)