Multiculturalism: ‘Demographic Fact’
* Gregory Rodriguez (“The Future Americans,” Opinion, March 18) is wrong in his views of multicultural history and society. He defines multiculturalism as an “ideology that promotes the permanent coexistence of separate but equal cultures.” This bogus definition and argument paint a monolithic national picture of divisiveness and difference created by, you guessed it, people of color and language minorities.
After constructing this view of multiculturalism, Rodriguez compares it with the old and discredited view of America as a cultural “melting pot,” in which racism used to play a significant role. That was a bad melting pot. However, in an argument vaguely connected to the “fluid nature of ethnicity and race” as revealed by the national census, he suggests that today’s melting pot has been purged of racism. Therefore, Americans who resist today’s supposedly nonracist melting pot must themselves be racists, and racial discrimination turns out to be a national evil for which Americans of all races share equal responsibility. Whew! Turns out, it’s their own darn fault!
Multiculturalism is less a philosophy than a demographic fact. Nonwhite and immigrant voices and languages will either be heard to our national advantage or ignored to our national peril, but they will not be silenced or assimilated out of existence by convoluted arguments or (as Rodriguez illogically suggests) by fluid racial identities.
MARTIN LIPTON
Los Angeles
*
Re the Rodriguez column:
One category that I haven’t seen reported is the number of people who did not identify any racial or ethnic background. Without affirmative action, there is no benefit to accrue to the ever-more-specific racial identification. In fact, there are many disadvantages to such specificity. One can imagine this new data fueling more anti-immigrant fervor, or more calls for English only, or worst of all, the gerrymandering of political districts to disenfranchise demographic groups. I can think of no reason for the government to be collecting this information. Its mandate is to count the people, not count the type of people.
My answer to ethnic inquiry is always the same: My DNA is nobody’s business. Kinda’ rolls off the tongue, don’t you think?
RAYMOND RODRIGUEZ
Redondo Beach