| Indeed, Benavides considers herself a world citizen, unrestricted by the boundaries of race or nationality. And it is that identity which probably allows Benavides to walk into almost any situation as a mediator or trainer through her company Benavides Enterprises dealing with race-related issues in a calm and rational manner. While Benavides enjoyed a distinguished career employed by the state in several civil rights positions, she too learned that she was not immune from holding stereotypes of other people and needed to work on her own attitudes as well. "When someone like Ricardo Gonzalez whom I respect deeply told me he was gay, it blew me away because I had my own stereotypes, my own 'tapes' of what being gay was," Benavides, who was raised in a Catholic household, revealed. "I began to say that I needed to do a 'Watergate' with some of my tapes. I need to erase them and replace them with things that are more accurate and real. It is hard to deal with diversity because you either tell yourself that you don't stereotype against anybody and therefore you would be perfect, which would be incredibly wonderful, but it's not true. Or you do look at people and react to what you see and not what you know because you don't know. We have to acknowledge that before we move into thinking about what is the quality and what's fairness. And fairness is doing your best to shut off your tapes." And due to her world travel --having lived in Latin America, Europe and the U.S. -- Benavides has been in a position to check herself out over the years and analyze the whole race relations and cultural competency thing. While many people may come up with complex reasons for how they feel about other people, Benavides cuts right to the chase. "I think stereotyping is like being pregnant," Benavides said with a smile. "You cannot be half pregnant. You are either pregnant or you aren't. Then you decide if it was planned or a surprise. So you are going to stereotype because we are human beings. We aren't widgets. That's what I tell people in my classes. "Let's just understand that we are not widgets in this room. We are people. We're individuals who have certain ideas and certain belief systems that we cherish. And commitment breeds conflict. If I cherish my religious beliefs and you are a part of a population or you are a person who does not represent that or acts different, who is Muslim or who is gay, whatever it is that is different, I'm going to be challenged by that. I'm going to be challenged if you are a police officer because police officers get stereotyped as much as anyone else. That to me is a part of culture. I'm a minimalist. So I don't like big homes with lots of stuff and things hanging on the walls. I hang one thing per wall. So I can label people because of their difference. I can call someone emotional if they get intense. And like I told somebody, 'If you're calling me emotional, I respond to the label. I don't respond to what you are trying to tell me.' Latinos are emotional because we are intense. I told my boss one time, ';f I was emotional, that person would be dead. I'm just intense.' We label these behaviors of people." In Benavides' view, people will always be people and will continue to act on what they know even if what they know ends up being nothing at all. "I went to an agency up north one time," Benavides recalled. "I was darker. I was dressed casually. I didn't have my briefcase. And this woman immediately thought I was a migrant or somebody who didn't speak English and was therefore there for services. She said in an exaggerated way, 'Hello, how are you?' I told her I was okay. She gave me an application in Spanish for some kind of service. She told me to go sit over on a seat and fill out the application. I went and sat for a while. Then I got up and pulled a card out of my pocket and said 'Actually, I'm the director of the office of civil rights for the state. I'm here to conduct an audit.' She almost fainted. She literally turned White. I asked her if I could see the executive director. And the executive director came and he was flustered." But Benavides felt that the woman honestly didn't know better and didn't want her disciplined. Benavides feels that it is the organization's responsibility to train its staff and to equip them to act appropriately in a multicultural environment. "It is totally the responsibility of the organization to train their people," Benavides emphasized. "This is cultural competency. It's not cultural sensitivity. Cultural sensitivity to me is an awareness. It's your choice. I can't make you sensitive, but I can require you to be competent. That is a skill. That is an expectation. It's a performance. It's not a preference. I don't want you to be nice. I hope you're nice. I hope you're competent. I expect you to be competent. I expect you to have a translator if you are providing services to monolingual people. I expect you not to roll your eyes every time an African American person walks in the door." For Benavides, it's the change in behavior and not in the attitude that is important. As imperfect human beings, we will always have some level of stereotyping going on, in Benavides' view. But people must be taught how to act appropriately in multicultural settings. "If you tell someone that in order for you to be culturally competent, you have to understand this and understand that and this is how you manage time and this is how you manage conflict, this is how you treat people verbally and nonverbally, these are the things you need to learn," Benavides asserted. "And that goes for everyone. A Latino person has to be as culturally competent relating to African Americans as an African American person needs to be relating to people of White European descent. It's not about teaching White people about minorities. It is truly having everyone in that agency or organization be culturally competent, and not just relying on the person of color that they have there as the expert on Blacks or Latinos or on what people eat. It's really a competency-based expectation." "How do you provide services in a multicultural environment," Benavides continued. "That's the point. Whoever walks through that door, whether they are eligible or not, they should get the treatment that they deserve in a culturally competent manner, whether it's by phone or in person. You don't change the system. You make it accountable." It is the structure of those organizations too, which determine whether or not the people who work inside them will be able to provide culturally competent services. The cultural competency -- or the racism -- can be imbedded within the system. She talked about an agency that was conducting a survey of the Latino community. "Someone just sent me a survey they did about what do Latinos use to get informed," Benavides said. "Your newspaper [The Capital City Hues] isn't even there. Now the thing is they ask only through the Internet. So only those who have Internet, which is about 80 some people out of a community of thousands, would be the only ones completing the survey. Then they asked what newspapers. It listed the Spanish-language papers. But people also read things in English. I don't know how they did it. But to me, it is not a survey. It's a climate thing because it's taking a sample but it isn't well-defined. Am I giving people a framework that allows them to choose, not to prioritize. Surveys are generally done for the system, not the community." To Benavides, most of the affirmative action systems that are now in place are for the benefit of the system and not the protected classes whom they are supposed to serve. "I just got a request for proposal from a very large corporation for a very large project four days before it was due," Benavides said. "This told me that they just wanted to count me because they needed two more. They probably know who they want to hire anyway. So I responded. I said 'We have full capacity to deliver this huge project. Unfortunately, as I am sure you are aware, it is four days before the due date. And we pride ourselves in doing things thoroughly and producing a quality product, whether it's a response to your proposal or the actual delivery of the services. Therefore we will not be submitting anything.' I refuse to kill myself to be in someone's file. My accountant told me that I wasn't very attached to my money because otherwise I would do whatever it takes to get the money. But I just can't do that. It's unethical to me." In Benavides' view, Madison is working around the edges of race relations and cultural competency without really dealing with the core issues and each other. She is concerned about Madison's future if we don't confront it. "I would like to see a summit here or a structured think tank, which looks at what Madison will look like in the next ten years and to develop a plan of action, a strategic plan that addresses that just like we do for the environment and economic development," Benavides said. "We should have everyone involved. The neighborhood associations are really homeowners associations in this city. They have a real hard time dealing with the new wave of people. When you talk about liberalism, you're talking about a culture of sameness, just like you are talking about conservatism. It's not about embracing differences. It's about accepting them. And acceptance, to me, means that I am in the doorway. You're accepting the fact that I am here. You're velcroing me into your neighborhood. I talk about team building and clumps. The clumps are velcroed together. They can be easily removed, but for the moment, they are there." There is a lot of wisdom in the words that Benavides speaks. The question becomes "Is anyone listening?" |
| Immigrant success stories: Gladis Benavides reflects on her heritage and civil rights Race, Culture & Competency By Jonathan Gramling Part 2 of 2 |
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| Gladis Benavides carries herself with a lot of class and self-confidence. No matter what the circumstance, whether it is attending church at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, dancing a little salsa at Dane Dances, or leading a discussion on race relations, Benavides always has the comport that she belongs, no matter what the situation. |