Eurika Field, Open Letter to Ward Connerly on Racial & Cultural Diversity

To: Ward Connerly

  The racial and cultural diversity in our society is indeed a gift for the contemporary international, economical, and even political
successes of our nation.  Something that many homogeneous nations do not possess.  Considering the tremendous economical achievements and international recognitions we obtained in recent years, the solution for several social problems, such as crime, hostility between different social groups, and social inequalities, need to be dealt with first in terms of  diversity.  Mistreatment of our most prominent diversities, namely racial and cultural diversities, have lead us to disastrous social problems that are yet to be solved.  As your next mayor I would like to see multiculturalism develop and flourish, thus benefitting this great city and setting example for all other cities of this generation.  First of all, I promote segregation for each racial group in the community to preserve, and solidify each culture that is contaminated by the capitalistic culture of white America.
     Secondly, I strongly enforce the employment of faculty members of different racial and cultural backgrounds in each public school, primary through university, to provide students an opportunity to learn the true essence of different cultures, from the perspective of that culture.  Furthermore, I support affordable higher educations, to prevent our country from becoming a "third world nation."
    Thirdly, the reconstruction of welfare system must be accomplished.  Imposed ideas of inferiority of minority groups in our society led to several social problems such as burglary, hate crimes, and unnecessary hatreds between different racial and economic groups.  Effective use of the welfare system allows minorities to have a chance to achieve what they
deserve and most desired.

        Segregation of racial groups is necessary in order to preserve the distinctiveness of different cultures.  This is the idea of the "salad bowl" as opposed to the "melting pot."  American adolescents in the modern age struggle to culturally define themselves.  Being raised in a society where people place the greatest emphasis on individualism, one struggles in a "melting pot" society, because cultural identity is a necessary step for defining oneself individually.  This phenomenon then leads to a lack in the sense of belonging.  Even though a person knows that she belongs to a country called United States, she cannot identify her cultural value, so the whole idea of "belonging" becomes abstract and she finds herself dislocated in the margin of defining
her world.  A multicultural community needs facilities that are run by members of different cultural groups, at least in terms of
geographical barriers such as Asian culture, European culture, African culture and so on.  Most importantly, the facilities must be free of white, or capitalistic culture, "that destroys other culture because of its abstractness.  As a destroyer of culture it is not a culture but a cancer" (Deloria, pp188).  White, or capitalistic culture is the remnant of industrialization, capitalism and standardization of people whose primarily focus is on individual needs, ignoring the essence or values, that were conceivably created in the United States and then spread globally.  Therefore, the essence of this platform is,

        All groups must come to understand themselves as their situation
defines them and not as other groups see them.  By accepting ourselves
and defining the values within which we can be most comfortable we can
find peace.  In essence, we must all create social isolates which have
economic bases that support creative and innovative efforts to
customize values we need.  (Deloria, pp. 195).
        By promoting faculties with different racial backgrounds within public schools, students can learn about different cultural values, even though they do not inherit the particular culture.  At the present, our educational institution is ultimately based on
Eurocentric points of view, which, again, is considered as a source of white/capitalistic culture of the US.  For example, the Japanese culture that is taught in western schools is frequently not conceived of as Japanese culture by Japanese people.  Therefore, in order to fully understand different cultures and to obtain more than a single, fixed point of view, faculty members with unique cultural backgrounds should be in demand.  Furthermore, in order to prevent our nation from becoming a "third world nation," as David Duke is worried about, I will strongly enforce affordable higher education for all, because "education must not be a luxury for the few or propaganda for the privileged but a compulsory discipline for every human being, at
public cost" (Du Bois, pp172)
        As discussed previously, our history in regard to abuse of different cultural and racial values led to numerous social problems, that are often considered unrelated to cultural or racial matters.  Ever since Colombus' "discovery" of a new continent, through the history of colonization, slavery, and World Wars, the view of the inferiority of minorities has been continually accumulated.  The history of being colonized, slaved, or "uncivilized" ironically built up not guilt in rulers, but inferiority in the oppressed people, which still exists within our modern society in several disguised forms.  As Du Bois
points out,
        New patterns of cruelty and contempt for human beings were based on a
doctrine of the inferiority of most men, which was announced as a
scientific law and spread by the education of youth and the teachings
of religion.  This new economics regarded all labor- black, yellow and
white- as a commodity (Du Bois, pp167).
Social reformation with effective use of welfare is necessary, in order to provide underprivileged citizens with opportunities for
education, work, and the life that they deserve.  If we look to biblical times, Esau sold his birthright to his capitalistic brother because Esau was hungry, and eventually became his brother's slave.  Esau represents minorities who have given up their homes and ways of life for freedom within our culture and were then cheated.  In connection to three planks I presented, namely diverse education, preservation of distinct cultures, and social reformation, Esau, who was degraded, humiliated, and betrayed by the capitalistic culture, and saw himself as inferior, can finally build his own standing, which he long deserved.
        David Duke, a former active leader of the Klu Klux Klan, would argue that immigration and welfare support for alien residents must be ended before the US goes down the hill to the status of a third world nation, and pure heritage of the founding American people is lost, as he states,
This alien influxes a disaster for our country, our people, and our
families.  Crime will continue to escalate, as schools deteriorate,
corruption increases, and quality of life plummets. [ ... ]  Our
children grow up in an alien society that our forefathers would not
recognize.  They have attacked our Christian values, heritage, and
traditions." (Duke, www.duke.org).
His objections strengthen my platform most effectively.  First of all, our educational system, whose view point is solely Eurocentric, must be reformed.  His collage degree in history apparently did not teach Duke a fundamental history of America, that America was originally a land of rich Native American cultures for long time before the European invasion.  Moreover, we must solve the social problems not by eliminating every possible suspect, which follows the idea of Nazis, but rather, by working together as a community.
        As next mayor of San Francisco, I promote preservation of cultural distinctiveness, diverse education for all citizens, and social reform with effective use of welfare, because "peace requires exchanging ideas, concepts, thoughts, and recognizing the fact that two distinct systems of life can exist together without conflict" (Deloria, pp. 256).
 

Return to the Culture and Affirmative Action Page
Return to the Affirmative Action and Diversity Page

Carl Gutierrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu