DEI Must Not DIE

Details: Created: 04 April 2025

A Broadway Show Reminds Us: DEI Must Not DIE!

by Chuck Cascio

chuckwrites@yahoo.com

What do some people think is gained by hiding, rather than emphasizing, diversity?

Why do some people think children today must be “protected” from knowing that there are other children growing up with less...or more...than they have?

What is gained by keeping today’s students from learning the full reality of USA history?

Every day, actions are being implemented to the detriment of society and learning. But a Broadway show recently brought a piece of reality rushing home to me. Hell's Kitchen is the gripping story of brilliant singer/songwriter Alicia Keys, who grew up in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. A young woman with a White mother and Black father falls in love with music and her community at an early age. She listens intently to street singers and learns music formally and informally from various sources.

The live-theater show featured a number of Keys's songs, including hits like “Girl On Fire”, “Empire State of Mind”, “No One”, and 21 others. Hearing the songs in the context of the young woman maturing magnified their already significant meaning, and the superb choreography added emphasis to each song’s lyrics and overall impact. The combined elements of the show conveyed messages that everyone must keep in mind and that today’s youth, in particular, need to be made aware of.

In the show that I saw, practically all of the actors and performers appeared to be minorities. Mostly young and young-ish people who have clearly devoted their lives to art...no doubt continuously hoping to have the opportunity to perform in a show like "Hell's Kitchen." As I watched those incredibly talented performers, I could not help but think that at some point in their lives someone probably asked them, "Why are you pursuing a career in that field?" But they stuck with it. They valued their love of not only their particular art--be it singing, dancing, musicianship, acting, writing, producing, etc.--but also of the potential impact that their art could have on others.

We are increasingly cheating the youth of today out of the opportunity to recognize that passion, intellect, and absolute genius come in many different forms.

Theater helps convey that.

Reading classic books helps convey that.

Music--current and past, popular and classical--helps convey that.

Seeing, reading, hearing, and learning stories of people who have grown up in various situations but have nevertheless pursued their passion convey an important reality--life is different for everyone. Just because an individual matures in a different environment or pursues a different passion or is of a different culture does not mean they should be erased! Erasure limits the scope of thought throughout society, and limiting the scope of thought narrows thinking to focus only on self-specific beliefs and actions.

If I could, I would take young people to see Hell's Kitchen and afterward I would encourage them to chat about the powerful reality of the story—how some people grow up in very different environments, yet they too possess the desire to succeed and, given the opportunity to do so, they will use their commitment and unique genius to do so in ways that may seem different to many others.

We gain nothing as individuals or as a society by limiting our exposure.

We gain nothing as individuals or as a society by narrowing vision, opportunity, and appreciation.

We grow stronger as individuals and as a society by exercising in multiple ways, by seeing that creativity is another form of genius, and that intellect can be expressed in many different ways.

Many lyrics from “Hell’s Kitchen” made an enormous impact on me, but the following two songs resonated most because they capture so much of Alicia Keys’s story, a story that some “leaders” seem determined to negate. These lyrics from the song “Empire State of Mind” remain in my head weeks after seeing the performance:

"In New York,

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

There's nothin you can't do,

Now you're in New York,

The streets will make you feel brand new

Big lights will inspire you

Let's hear it for New york…”

Those words can apply to anyone anywhere who is given an opportunity that they might not otherwise have when opportunities are taken from them. And the following words from “Girl on Fire” capture the inner spirit waiting to be released, to be given the opportunity that exists in the dreams of everyone everywhere, but that too many people today seem determined to crush:

“She′s living in a world and it's on fire
Filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away

Everybody stares as she goes by
'Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes
Watch her as she′s lighting up the night
Nobody knows that she′s a lonely girl
And it's a lonely world
But she gon′ let it burn, baby, burn, baby
This girl is on fire
This girl is on fire
She's walking on fire
This girl is on fire”

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. They must not die! We gain nothing by taking actions that extinguish those fires. Politicians, educators, religious leaders, EVERYONE has a responsibility to fan the internal flames so people can grow, experience others, recognize differences, and see that whether they come from Hell’s Kitchen or someplace else, they are accepted, and welcomed, and understood.

Contact: chuckwrites@yahoo.com