Diversity and Communication: Blog Assignment 3

Hotel Owner Tells Hispanic Workers to Change Names

By MELANIE DABOVICH, Associated Press Writer Melanie Dabovich, Associated Press Writer

TAOS, N.M. – Larry Whitten marched into this northern New Mexico town in late July on a mission: resurrect a failing hotel.

The tough-talking former Marine immediately laid down some new rules. Among them, he forbade the Hispanic workers at the run-down, Southwestern adobe-style hotel from speaking Spanish in his presence (he thought they’d be talking about him), and ordered some to Anglicize their names.

No more Martin (Mahr-TEEN). It was plain-old Martin. No more Marcos. Now it would be Mark.

Whitten’s management style had worked for him as he’s turned around other distressed hotels he bought in recent years across the country

To read more, visit

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_trouble_in_taos

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When reading this article, I was most struck by the final quote from the 71 year old local artist. He said, "Nobody won here. It's not always about winning. Sometimes, it's about what you learn." I believe this is a valuable lesson which is applicable to any situation where ignorance meets diversity. In these pairings, disputes will always spark as one or both parties endure injury. Differences in culture or beliefs bring about explicit differences in interactions and/or experiences, which is exemplified in this scenario by the way Whitten managed his hotel.

It is obvious that Whitten did not understand the extent to which his behavior was offensive to his employees and to the community. The fact that he took "what always worked" and applied it to a population so different than he had previously worked with was evidence of this. The scenario suggests that Whitten either did not do his research, did not fully understand the community, or as some suggest, he was simply racist in his actions and attitudes.

I believe Whitten came from a community where these such behaviors were seen as acceptable. The fact that he was called out for his actions illustrates a positive characterization of the people of Taos. Perhaps Whitten will learn something from this experience, and he will open his eyes to a new perspective on what it means to be accepting of diversity.

I think it is equally important to consider the reverse though. It may seem backwards to need to "understand those who misunderstand," but knowing where ignorance comes from is the first step to battling it. Really the only way to learn these lessons is to bring these differing opinions and people together and to open dialogue and interactions between them. Attitudinal changes come more quickly with personal experience.