[Music]
imagine a place where every face is the
exact same color exact same race where
everybody thinks just like everyone else
and any perspective outside is put on
the Shelf is that really a place where
anyone is free free to be you free to be
me in an essence the place you are
imagining in your mind’s eye is my
hometown I grew up in rural America
where the majority of the place was
white even in 2010 it was still sitting
at a ninety five point five percent
white majority I grew Restless of this
monoculture and dreamed of something
more I craved culture variety and
freedom to be different and while I
didn’t travel outside the country as a
young girl I did travel in my
imagination through the magical vehicle
of National Geographic magazines the
imagery allowed me to dip into cultures
around the world and one can say at this
point an obsession between photography
and culture was ignited within me and
would eventually lead me to my life’s
calling as a humanitarian photographer I
went on to study international relations
and worked abroad in Jamaica after
graduation I fell in love with the
culture and people there but was also
challenged to step outside of my comfort
zone and expand my worldview
I was poked and prodded to step into my
assertiveness to find my voice and stand
up for what I believe in I learned the
true definition of resilience and
self-reliance and I recognized
opportunities and resources that I had
taken for granted my whole
and saw them with a new appreciation I
was hosted by families and communities
that exemplified love and hospitality
that was second to none but what I truly
received was a sense of expansive
freedom when I realized that life could
be different than it was in my small
hometown I was awestruck by the cultural
differences of the people that I
photographed but I also recognized a
place of common ground the expressions
held in their faces and bodies
I saw myself reflected in them from
despair to elation I recognize that we
are not different that we all contain
this microcosm of emotional diversity
within us but I questioned with this
common denominator that connects us what
are the factors that divide us and what
are the solutions to unite us and I
found that the factors that divide
humanity at large this macrocosm of
cultural diversity are the same factors
that divide us within the
misinterpretation of the contrasts in
our lives in the misunderstanding of
what true power is and how to access it
so what is contrast contrast is a
feedback system a messenger think Auto
corrective GPS it is constantly showing
us what is not working in our lives and
meant to turn us in the direction of a
clear alternative solution or in other
words when we know what we don’t want we
know what we do want with more clarity
how would we know the value of our joy
if we had never experienced the contrast
of despair or how do we know the value
of health if we had never experienced
the contrast of being sick many people
avoid the discomfort of the contrast in
their lives at all costs let me ask you
how fully do you embrace the microcosm
of your emotional diversity are you is
apt to embrace the uncomfortable
emotions in your lives
as you are to embrace the comfortable
ones these parts of ourselves that we
deem too uncomfortable to embrace
comprise what is known as the contrast
of our inner shadow Swiss psychologist
Carl Jung said that the shadow was the
person that we would rather not be for
example anger greed even racism for
instance I thought for many years of my
life that I could avoid certain
emotional groups altogether
I was anger phobic and panicked and felt
immense guilt and shame every time I
would think an angry thought let alone
express an angry behavior shadow expert
Debbie Ford says that we can identify
their shadow by what we judge in others
and indeed I was judgmental of angry
people I thought that somehow I was
different than them that I just didn’t
have this emotion but what I didn’t
realize is that anger is an essential
part of who I am
but where do we find the value in
something as uncomfortable as anger what
about the anger that we feel in the face
of an injustice that turns us in the
direction of a clear alternative
solution our anger takes us from a place
of disempowerment to empowerment so how
do we begin to embrace an even bigger
shadow a shadow of racism racism can be
understood as the rejection of the
macrocosm of cultural diversity at large
and as rooted in fear and powerlessness
it is showing us that we have yet to
embrace our inherent worth for simply
being human beings because if we were to
embrace that inherent worth we would
have to acknowledge and embrace the
inherent worth of all other human beings
as well regardless of the flag of their
nation or the color of the suit of their
skin we all desire to feel
free and empowered as we well should and
racism is just a misunderstood attempt
to access empowerment if you can find a
reason such as skin color or culture to
overpower another human being it may
make you feel bigger powerful and
stronger in that moment but you can
never access your true power by trying
to minimize somebody else’s power your
true power is exponentially more
powerful than that and it’s found in
perhaps the counterintuitive opposite in
the finding and creating of solutions
that empower others around you
journalist Robert Wright explains
something called a nonzero-sum game
meaning that the fortunes of nations are
correlated and interdependent for better
or for worse if we want to succeed we
must also want others to succeed we
cannot begin to imagine solutions that
only benefit one group of people and
expect them to last we are all better
off when we create solutions that are
win-win the danger in denying our shadow
is that it numbs ourselves to our pain
but it also numbs ourselves to the
ability to feel compassion and
connection and when we can’t feel the
capacity to connect we feel numb to the
atrocities that we see on the news and
feel complacent and powerless to make a
change we can begin to shed this
numbness by becoming mindfully aware of
what we are feeling without trying to
push it away or numb it Buddhist nun
Pema Chodron says that we can use all
the unwanted things in our lives as the
means for awakening compassion when we
become aware of our inner shadow and
embrace it with compassion we can also
become aware of the shadows and others
and embrace it with compassion as well
the shadow is our doorway to unity in
cultural
diversity for is through the embracing
of the microcosm of emotional diversity
within ourselves that we gain the
capacity to embrace the macrocosm of
cultural diversity there is a huge range
of culture represented right here in
Bismarck I personally know people from
Afghanistan Peru Colombia Congo Cameroon
Kenya China to name a few
I know community members that have been
through the unspeakable atrocities of
all-out war fled their home country to
neighboring nations to seek refuge and
spent decades of their lives in refugee
camps where all of their children were
born sometimes surviving on as little as
one grain based meal per day sometimes
less I would argue that these
international community members know the
value of peace just as anyone else who
has been through war because they have
experienced the contrasts of conflict
they have incredible valuable
perspective that can contribute to
community oriented solutions however
this amazing resource of perspective
frequently goes untapped we are all
living in the same geographical location
oftentimes without seeing or
acknowledging each other at all so in
the spirit of creating a solution I’ve
created a photography program called the
human atlas of Bismarck the project
simply provides a platform for
international residents to be seen and
heard in their own voice
dissolving false misconceptions and
prejudices and showing us what their
positive perspective can add to our
community
take Familia for example originally from
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
eventually Tanzania and mind you this is
translated from Swahili
what asked what her culture can
contribute to our community she said
first of all I can say about love to
love each other for example you are my
friend you love me I love you I can tell
you something good you can tell me
something good and we can all teach each
other something good
Tanzania people they have love and then
deep from Nepal when asked why diversity
in a community is important to him he
said because it makes me feel that I am
not the only one who is different and
that is also my understanding that a
diverse community is a welcoming
community can you see yourself reflected
in their stories and experiences what
would the world be without this
incredible diversity of cultures
anthropologist Margaret Mead said that
her greatest fear was as we drifted
towards this bland ly amorphous generic
worldview not only would we see the
human imagination reduced to a more
narrow modality of thought but we had
awakened from a dream one day having
forgotten there were even other
possibilities cultures are constantly
evolving we have the capacity to create
whatever culture we want to right here
in our community I envision a culture
that embraces the microcosm and
macrocosm of its diversity where we
celebrate the multiplicity of worldviews
and where we realize that there is a
freedom when we recognize that life does
not have to be lived in one way but that
we are truly limitless to be ourselves
so I have three action steps for you to
take home today to begin embracing
diversity first is to embrace the
microcosm of your inner diversity the
microcosm of your emotional diversity
through self-awareness you can in
your shadow with compassion and
acknowledge your inherent worth as a
human being which leads us into step to
embrace the macrocosm of cultural
diversity acknowledge inherent worth of
all other people as well and do
something as simple as reaching out and
having a conversation joining an
organization and simply at the very
least advocate for internationals in our
community and third is to step into your
true purpose in power which we now know
is in the finding and creating of
solutions that empower others around you
the factors that divide humanity at
large are the same that divide us within
the solution is found when we embrace
our contrast which opens the door for us
to step into our true purpose and power
creating solutions to empower others are
you holding yourself away from your
purpose by ruminating powerlessly in the
contrast in your life or are you using
the contrast to propel you to your
greatest limitless solution creating
potential thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
imagine a place where every face is the
exact same color exact same race where
everybody thinks just like everyone else
and any perspective outside is put on
the Shelf is that really a place where
anyone is free free to be you free to be
me in an essence the place you are
imagining in your mind’s eye is my
hometown I grew up in rural America
where the majority of the place was
white even in 2010 it was still sitting
at a ninety five point five percent
white majority I grew Restless of this
monoculture and dreamed of something
more I craved culture variety and
freedom to be different and while I
didn’t travel outside the country as a
young girl I did travel in my
imagination through the magical vehicle
of National Geographic magazines the
imagery allowed me to dip into cultures
around the world and one can say at this
point an obsession between photography
and culture was ignited within me and
would eventually lead me to my life’s
calling as a humanitarian photographer I
went on to study international relations
and worked abroad in Jamaica after
graduation I fell in love with the
culture and people there but was also
challenged to step outside of my comfort
zone and expand my worldview
I was poked and prodded to step into my
assertiveness to find my voice and stand
up for what I believe in I learned the
true definition of resilience and
self-reliance and I recognized
opportunities and resources that I had
taken for granted my whole
and saw them with a new appreciation I
was hosted by families and communities
that exemplified love and hospitality
that was second to none but what I truly
received was a sense of expansive
freedom when I realized that life could
be different than it was in my small
hometown I was awestruck by the cultural
differences of the people that I
photographed but I also recognized a
place of common ground the expressions
held in their faces and bodies
I saw myself reflected in them from
despair to elation I recognize that we
are not different that we all contain
this microcosm of emotional diversity
within us but I questioned with this
common denominator that connects us what
are the factors that divide us and what
are the solutions to unite us and I
found that the factors that divide
humanity at large this macrocosm of
cultural diversity are the same factors
that divide us within the
misinterpretation of the contrasts in
our lives in the misunderstanding of
what true power is and how to access it
so what is contrast contrast is a
feedback system a messenger think Auto
corrective GPS it is constantly showing
us what is not working in our lives and
meant to turn us in the direction of a
clear alternative solution or in other
words when we know what we don’t want we
know what we do want with more clarity
how would we know the value of our joy
if we had never experienced the contrast
of despair or how do we know the value
of health if we had never experienced
the contrast of being sick many people
avoid the discomfort of the contrast in
their lives at all costs let me ask you
how fully do you embrace the microcosm
of your emotional diversity are you is
apt to embrace the uncomfortable
emotions in your lives
as you are to embrace the comfortable
ones these parts of ourselves that we
deem too uncomfortable to embrace
comprise what is known as the contrast
of our inner shadow Swiss psychologist
Carl Jung said that the shadow was the
person that we would rather not be for
example anger greed even racism for
instance I thought for many years of my
life that I could avoid certain
emotional groups altogether
I was anger phobic and panicked and felt
immense guilt and shame every time I
would think an angry thought let alone
express an angry behavior shadow expert
Debbie Ford says that we can identify
their shadow by what we judge in others
and indeed I was judgmental of angry
people I thought that somehow I was
different than them that I just didn’t
have this emotion but what I didn’t
realize is that anger is an essential
part of who I am
but where do we find the value in
something as uncomfortable as anger what
about the anger that we feel in the face
of an injustice that turns us in the
direction of a clear alternative
solution our anger takes us from a place
of disempowerment to empowerment so how
do we begin to embrace an even bigger
shadow a shadow of racism racism can be
understood as the rejection of the
macrocosm of cultural diversity at large
and as rooted in fear and powerlessness
it is showing us that we have yet to
embrace our inherent worth for simply
being human beings because if we were to
embrace that inherent worth we would
have to acknowledge and embrace the
inherent worth of all other human beings
as well regardless of the flag of their
nation or the color of the suit of their
skin we all desire to feel
free and empowered as we well should and
racism is just a misunderstood attempt
to access empowerment if you can find a
reason such as skin color or culture to
overpower another human being it may
make you feel bigger powerful and
stronger in that moment but you can
never access your true power by trying
to minimize somebody else’s power your
true power is exponentially more
powerful than that and it’s found in
perhaps the counterintuitive opposite in
the finding and creating of solutions
that empower others around you
journalist Robert Wright explains
something called a nonzero-sum game
meaning that the fortunes of nations are
correlated and interdependent for better
or for worse if we want to succeed we
must also want others to succeed we
cannot begin to imagine solutions that
only benefit one group of people and
expect them to last we are all better
off when we create solutions that are
win-win the danger in denying our shadow
is that it numbs ourselves to our pain
but it also numbs ourselves to the
ability to feel compassion and
connection and when we can’t feel the
capacity to connect we feel numb to the
atrocities that we see on the news and
feel complacent and powerless to make a
change we can begin to shed this
numbness by becoming mindfully aware of
what we are feeling without trying to
push it away or numb it Buddhist nun
Pema Chodron says that we can use all
the unwanted things in our lives as the
means for awakening compassion when we
become aware of our inner shadow and
embrace it with compassion we can also
become aware of the shadows and others
and embrace it with compassion as well
the shadow is our doorway to unity in
cultural
diversity for is through the embracing
of the microcosm of emotional diversity
within ourselves that we gain the
capacity to embrace the macrocosm of
cultural diversity there is a huge range
of culture represented right here in
Bismarck I personally know people from
Afghanistan Peru Colombia Congo Cameroon
Kenya China to name a few
I know community members that have been
through the unspeakable atrocities of
all-out war fled their home country to
neighboring nations to seek refuge and
spent decades of their lives in refugee
camps where all of their children were
born sometimes surviving on as little as
one grain based meal per day sometimes
less I would argue that these
international community members know the
value of peace just as anyone else who
has been through war because they have
experienced the contrasts of conflict
they have incredible valuable
perspective that can contribute to
community oriented solutions however
this amazing resource of perspective
frequently goes untapped we are all
living in the same geographical location
oftentimes without seeing or
acknowledging each other at all so in
the spirit of creating a solution I’ve
created a photography program called the
human atlas of Bismarck the project
simply provides a platform for
international residents to be seen and
heard in their own voice
dissolving false misconceptions and
prejudices and showing us what their
positive perspective can add to our
community
take Familia for example originally from
the Democratic Republic of the Congo and
eventually Tanzania and mind you this is
translated from Swahili
what asked what her culture can
contribute to our community she said
first of all I can say about love to
love each other for example you are my
friend you love me I love you I can tell
you something good you can tell me
something good and we can all teach each
other something good
Tanzania people they have love and then
deep from Nepal when asked why diversity
in a community is important to him he
said because it makes me feel that I am
not the only one who is different and
that is also my understanding that a
diverse community is a welcoming
community can you see yourself reflected
in their stories and experiences what
would the world be without this
incredible diversity of cultures
anthropologist Margaret Mead said that
her greatest fear was as we drifted
towards this bland ly amorphous generic
worldview not only would we see the
human imagination reduced to a more
narrow modality of thought but we had
awakened from a dream one day having
forgotten there were even other
possibilities cultures are constantly
evolving we have the capacity to create
whatever culture we want to right here
in our community I envision a culture
that embraces the microcosm and
macrocosm of its diversity where we
celebrate the multiplicity of worldviews
and where we realize that there is a
freedom when we recognize that life does
not have to be lived in one way but that
we are truly limitless to be ourselves
so I have three action steps for you to
take home today to begin embracing
diversity first is to embrace the
microcosm of your inner diversity the
microcosm of your emotional diversity
through self-awareness you can in
your shadow with compassion and
acknowledge your inherent worth as a
human being which leads us into step to
embrace the macrocosm of cultural
diversity acknowledge inherent worth of
all other people as well and do
something as simple as reaching out and
having a conversation joining an
organization and simply at the very
least advocate for internationals in our
community and third is to step into your
true purpose in power which we now know
is in the finding and creating of
solutions that empower others around you
the factors that divide humanity at
large are the same that divide us within
the solution is found when we embrace
our contrast which opens the door for us
to step into our true purpose and power
creating solutions to empower others are
you holding yourself away from your
purpose by ruminating powerlessly in the
contrast in your life or are you using
the contrast to propel you to your
greatest limitless solution creating
potential thank you
[Applause]
[Music]
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