What about the silence of the innocent?

We know that people are exposed to situations of advantage and disadvantage due to the characteristics that make up our identity. There are still many people who remain silent in the face of injustice, corruption, and abuse of power. Whether out of fear of reprisals, lack of empathy, or simply not wanting to get into trouble, these individuals decide to stay quiet and let the world continue on its course.

This should lead us to several questions. The first is, why don’t they act? The answer in the vast majority of cases is that they are not aware of what is happening. Being aware that a person is being deprived of their human rights should outrage us, but if the person is not aware, it is impossible for them to intervene. We do not know that person well enough to know where they stand in terms of DEI, nor do we know their experiences and their history of diversity.

The second question that comes to mind is, if I am not there to intervene, but I do not want similar situations to continue happening, what can I do about it? Here, the door is open to multiple actions we can take to promote diversity and inclusion in all environments in which we operate:

• Recognize and celebrate diversity in all its forms, whether through the creation of inclusive spaces, the promotion of the culture and history of different groups.
• Raise awareness of the negative effects of discrimination and exclusion, and how they affect not only the directly affected people, but also society as a whole.
• Encourage empathy through dialogue and active listening, seeking to understand the perspectives and experiences of others and how they can influence their perspective.
• Promote civic participation in the fight against discrimination and exclusion, whether through signing petitions, participating in events, disseminating information on social media, among others.
• Foster conversations on these topics in the different environments where we operate, seeking to normalize them in society.