COLUMN: Failure of multiculturalism in America

From Amar Kosaraju's, "And Justice For All," Fall '97 From Amar Kosaraju's, "And Justice For All," Fall '97 The professor wrote the word racism on the blackboard and asked students how this word made them feel. A white student raised his hand and said the word racism made him feel uncomfortable because he felt he had no place to say anything. Other white students echoed the same response because they felt it is the white people who are responsible for racism. We cannot change the history of this country -- white people enslaved black people. White people oppressed black people. This is not up for discussion, but is historical fact. What we fail to understand is than no community has the monopoly on oppression. Everyone who has come to this country has been oppressed and has been the oppressor, this is the definition of being American. Most of us came here as oppressed people and then became the oppressors of those who arrived later. Those white students in that classroom should not have felt uncomfortable because each one of us has felt racism and has been a racist in some manner. We should not look at the experience of slavery and the civil rights movement as something that only African-Americans can relate to you, but should be intimate and personal to each of us through the struggles that face all people at some point in history. For example, the Jewish community has probably the longest history of oppression, but has succeeded to thrive in many countries. The Irish came here doing the hardest menial labor and were oppressed and ostracized by the residents of this country. Indians were not permitted to enter America until after the 1950s because of anti-immigration laws. The reality is we have more struggles in common than different and the failure of multi-culturalism is that it has polarized our society. The idea of being American has been replaced with words that qualify our Americanism. We are African Americans, Asian Americans and German Americans, but we are not simply American anymore. It is true the definition of what is American is based on a white European mentality and has historically excluded non-white culture. But rather than expanding the definition of what is American, we have decided to create separate terminology and curriculum in competition with the past set of beliefs. The multi-cultural curriculum has not been integrated into the past educational system but has become an alternative to our current western-based education. We should not have this "either, or" philosophy but should look at multicultural education as education -- plain and simple. Whether you are white, brown or black or a shade in between, your education should not be separated into parts and pieces, but you should learn the culture of all Americans. There is little benefit in only African Americans learning about African American culture, because it leaves the other 90 percent of Americans uneducated and uninformed. Multi-culturalism tells us to "appreciate our differences" and "celebrate our diversity" and refutes the idea of the melting pot. I disagree. We should appreciate our similarities and celebrate our commonality. In our present society, we do not see each other as fellow Americans, but see each other according to our skin color, dialect or cultural background. When I was in first-grade, I realized for the first time that I was different than most when my classmate called me a "chocolate M&M.;" I was stunned at the realization of my color and cultural difference and from that point on, my friend and I were aware of my color difference. Having the supreme intelligence of first-graders, we shrugged our shoulders and kept on playing with our matchbox cars. For my friend and I, my color had little do with our matchbox car playing ability or our dodge ball game later that day. In the same respect, we realize that this country is made up of many different people with many different cultures, but in the end, we are all Americans and will always have more in common than different. If you take a stroll down Locust Walk, you can see how our multi-cultural education is working. Each group is almost completely separated by skin color and cultural background. Even though Penn is suppose to be "diversified" and multi-culturally educated, there is no mixing or learning taking place among groups. We need to get out of this mind-frame of "them and us" and start seeing this country for all its people. We are a conglomeration of different colors, different people, and different religions that up make the American Culture -- the American people. We must re-define our Multi-cultural education and not view it as an alternative to Western thought, but as an integral part of the total educational system that teaches us American Culture- which is Western, African American, Asian American, Hispanic and every other culture of the people of this country.