Transcriber: Adrienne Lin Reviewer: Pei Fang Ng
Before I start my talk,
I want to take a quick picture of the audience; I thought it'd be cool.
So if anybody is supposed to be at work, you're busted.
Sorry. (Laughter)
All right. So, you can smile and look really interested, OK?
All right, thanks.
Diverse relationships matter.
The more diverse relationships we have,
the less bigotry, the less intolerance,
the less hatred, the less prejudice will be in the world.
And this is because not only do diverse relationships
offer us all the benefits of a relationship,
but they also offer us a broad set of social experiences to draw from
while we're forming our opinions about others.
I'd like to do a quick exercise that needs some participation.
I'm going to ask everyone to close your eyes for a moment.
Now, if you don't want to close your eyes, that's fine,
but just know that I can see you looking at me, OK? (Laughter)
So I want everyone to close your eyes for just a moment.
I'm going to say a word,
and that word describes a particular type of person.
And I want you to think about the image that pops into your mind.
And that word is "Muslim".
OK, open your eyes.
Now, for some of you,
maybe even many of you,
the image you may have seen is of Osama bin Laden,
or maybe some other terrorist individual.
And that's not because you think all Muslims are terrorists,
but it's because you have a very limited set
of social experiences to draw from
when it comes to Muslims.
And that limited set of social experiences
can create a culture
where things like intolerance, bigotry and hatred can develop.
When I think about the word "Muslim", this is the image that I see.
This young lady, her name is Yemie. She's from West Africa.
She's actually a graduate of the medical college right up the street.
And she's a breast cancer survivor
and she happens to be a Muslim.
It's because of relationships like these, that it's very difficult for me
to accept stereotypes about...
each and every kind of stereotype about Muslims.
So that's why diverse relationships are important.
But, how do we do it?
How do we connect with people
that we don't have much in common with?
Well, many people believe the secret
to establishing relationships with diverse groups of people
has everything to do with our ability to look past our differences,
and find things that we have in common.
We should reject that type of thinking.
We should reject it because that statement --
"look past our differences to find things we have in common" --
suggests that there's something very desirable
about the things we have in common,
and very undesirable about things we don't have in common.
As a photographer, I take pictures of people
that I have nothing in common with all the time.
And in a very short amount of time, I have to establish rapport,
I have to make the person feel comfortable
in order to get photographs like this one,
that look very relaxed and comfortable.
And I'm able to do that, I'm able to establish that relationship,
by doing three things.
The first thing I do is, I look at people for exactly who they are.
The second thing I do is
I look for unique characteristics in that person,
and I inquire about those unique characteristics.
And the last thing I do is
I try to find the beauty in those characteristics,
or at least walk away with an understanding
of those characteristics.
You see, instead of avoiding the things
or looking past the things that are different,
I'm deliberately pursuing those things because, in my work,
that's what makes my pictures,
that's what makes the photography memorable.
Nobody wants to see a portfolio full of people
that look exactly the same, right?
So, there is a paradigm shift.
The thing of value is the thing that's different.
And what's interesting is
we all think this way when it comes to certain things.
All of you look like you're doing pretty well in life,
and I'm sure you eat out every now and then, right?
If you're driving down the road, and you see a restaurant, for example,
and it looks like something interesting,
you don't say to yourself,
"Man, I want to eat there, maybe next week,
and I hope the food tastes exactly like the food in the other restaurant I eat."
(Laughter) Right? Who says that? Nobody.
But think about it,
it's the anticipation of a unique experience
that creates this sense of excitement, right?
Which raises a question in my mind:
why don't we just approach other people in the same way?
The secret to establishing relationships with diverse groups of people
has everything to do with how we perceive
and respond to things that are different.
Here's the good news: we have a choice.
We can perceive things that are different as things that are
bad and threatening,
or we can perceive things that are different
as things that are good and valuable.
We can respond to things that are different
by being uncomfortable and anxious,
or we can respond by being excited and curious.
As a photographer,
I noticed that people see the world through lots of different lenses:
race,
ethnicity,
social status,
job,
political affiliation, sexual orientation.
But perhaps the most intriguing lens,
and perhaps the lens that will connect us with the most amount of people
is the lens of a photographer.
Diverse relationships matter because they enrich our lives
and they make us more sensitive, they make us more culturally aware.
They makes us more compassionate.
And we don't have to have anything in common with people
to connect with people.
All we have to do
is be enthusiastic,
be curious,
and embrace the idea that different is good.
Thank you.
(Applause)