by Jorge D. H. Prosperi

The creation of Diversity-Threads.com has been an exciting, energizing and dauntless journey. Its genesis came by way of being born outside the United States, migrating in Argentina, immigrating to America and migrations within US borders that shaped my identity.

That identity was molded by ancestors left behind, a resilient and courageous mother and father and dealing with the challenges of being bilingual and bicultural. The forces of acclimation and assimilation caused distractions, confrontations and challenges. As with every immigrant, the journey is singularly unique and a counter-story to the American Dream – that for many remains illusive and unattainable.

Launching a website/blog on the expansive universe of Diversity and its exponential peripheries in the 21st Century required serious consideration as to its relevance and focus to empower those who face immigration’s deafening oppression, live in the shadows and remain voiceless.

Via this website/blog, I join past and current voices, who on a daily basis continue “The Work” of unpacking the principles and tenets of justice, inclusivity, equity, democracy and self-determination.

A core value of Diversity-Threads.com is to use critical filters to sift through content and context in an effort to avoid cyber bullying, pandering, condescending, romanticizing, intellectually abstracting and/or appropriating backgrounds, ethnicities, identities and personal counterstories of others. 

I was born and raised in Argentina, grew up as an adult in America and therefore cannot speak to any other identity and reality. The LatinX community is historically, socially, culturally and racially highly diverse and complex. That we at some point adopted Spanish, with unique tones and lexicon, is part and parcel of our Natividad and Latinidad that continues to be unearthed and morphing.

Both Natividad and Latinidad are current debated derivations encompassing indigenous roots, native lands, its history and validation, colonialism, nation building, geopolitical experiences, historical Euro-socio-cultural-political-religious influences, ethnicity, nationality, the complexities of immigration and migrations, acclimation-assimilation, gender, race, color, shifting legal standing, class, status, lingual diversity, LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) and all connections and intersections that play a role in forming the ID-Entity that is defined individually based on a personal journey – each journey to be respected and approached singularly.

Not every word or phrase in Diversity-Threads.com will be referenced or sub-referenced. Throughout the website there will be examples of socio-cultural-political commentary based on what is called “breaking news.” An extended bibliography of knowledge bases and glossary are provided in order to substantiate relevance, validity and credibility.

Colleagues have remarked that Diversity-Threads.com has an edge. My response is that the edge is intentional. For too long serious and honest discourse on Diversity and its complex dimensions have been avoided – glossed over as PC, remaining unconnected to emotional intelligence, moral courage and the founding principles of social justice. For too long citizenship has remained unconnected to conscious conscientiousness and the complexities of the human condition.

For too long extreme conservative right wing media, politicians and pundits have used contrived theories, unsubstantiated opinions, revisionary history, bigoted accusations, racism and falsehoods rather than facts and truth about Diversity, immigration, and social justice.  The purpose of extreme conservatism is not to solve complex realities that we face as human beings in the 21st century, but to establish autocratic power and control. At the core of the power and control has been America’s inherited shame of White Supremacy, White Entitlement, White Privilege and the Capital of Whiteness.

The substance and relevance provided by contributors, personal essays, poems and poetics in Diversity-Threads.com will continue to be honed to a razor’s edge to cut through the constructed layers of misinformation, BIG and little lies, victimization and oppression. 

A major goal is to challenge readers to introspectively discern historical content, context and realize their power of influence in order to make a significant difference in the quality of life of all human beings.