Diversity Diaries: Tim Gallagher

By Tim Gallagher
Editor and president, Ventura County (Calif.) Star

10.10.01

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As a young editor, I knew the importance of diversity on an intellectual basis. But I hid a secret.

I thought I was the only person who carried around a basketful of racist ideas.

I was raised in New York, and I knew nearly every nasty word for ethnic groups and all of the stereotypical views about Jews, Puerto Ricans, blacks, etc. They don't call it the melting pot for nothing.

I had heard these views from so many people in my life and, undoubtedly, had passed them along at one time or another.

So I felt guilty about promoting diversity when I knew I had been a terrible sinner in the past.

And then one day I hired a diversity trainer. She did a great hourlong session for the staff and then someone asked her a question about stereotypes she had carried since she was a child.

The trainer said, "You are not responsible for the prejudices and attitudes that people gave you. You are responsible for how you act on those."

I can't tell you what a weight she lifted. It was so simple, but I needed to hear someone say it.

I am not perfect, and I still sometimes revert to the stereotyping I was taught. But for the most part, today I act on the blank slate theory. And I do not feel guilty about the past.

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