I am an American. I am a male American. I am a white male American. I am a Jewish white male American. I am a Romanian Jewish white male American. I am an Irish Romanian Jewish white male American. I think that we should have an organization for Irish Romanian Jewish white male Americans because we certainly are a minority. I believe that it is only fair that we Irish Romanian Jewish white male Americans have a medium by which we can communicate and promote awareness across campus of the new trends in Irish Romanian Jewish white male American culture.
For those of you who are in doubt of my purpose in that blur of ethnic categorization, rest assured that I have not embarked on some new crusade nor taken the dive into multiculturalism. Rather, I would like to talk about what I have seen and experienced as a major problem at Dartmouth and nationwide - the over-classification of our society into groups based solely on characteristics of birthright such as race, gender, or ethnicity.
Here at our haven of unreality in snowy Hanover I have noticed that many of the people who claim to be the very champions of tolerance and equality engage in this painstaking classification of our society into these groups. To these people I would like to pose the following questions: When we subdivide ourselves into groups based solely on the criteria of gender, race, or ethnicity, aren't we negating the concept of the individual? Can it be possible to create these inescapable categories and still hold to Martin Luther King's dream of racial blindness? Even as we celebrate Dr. King's birthday, can we truly say that we have moved closer to true social integration, when day by day we continue to subdivide ourselves on the basis of birthright?
To claim to represent an entire race or gender is indeed a large statement to make. For example, the population of African-Americans in our country represents a vast expanse of differing individuals, each with his or her own dreams, hopes, experiences, and desires. For someone - especially an onlooker, like a college professor or a politician - to lump all African-Americans together and assume that simply because of race, they all must believe certain things or hold certain ideals, is ludicrous.
Yet this assumption is hardly unusual. Here on campus, when a member of a minority ethnic group chooses to join a Greek house with a high percentage of white members, he or she is ridiculed by a supposedly open-minded group of ideologues on campus. The same thing happens when individuals differ from the "correct" viewpoint that a constituent of their race supposedly should have regarding a political issue. How ignorant can we be to promote the erroneous view that race and ideology go hand in hand?
I certainly do believe that organizations whose purposes are to celebrate the cultures of particular ethnicities are most definitely worthwhile groups. But if that is the case, it should not matter if some of the constituents differ politically from the majority or join a Greek house, should it? To promote awareness of a culture is one thing, but to hold a political agenda and assume that all members of a certain ethnicity must agree with that agenda or be ostracized is definitely another thing altogether.
I understand that our society has a history of racial and ethnic unfairness. I agree that people should support other people of their ethnicity - and even people not of their own ethnicity. The quest for social unity, however, will not be facilitated by further division or focusing on everyone's differences. Rather let's concentrate a little less on the supposed insurmountable differences between ethnicities and a little more on our larger and more important commonalities. We are all members of the human race and should remember that primarily.
As far as I'm concerned, the people who constantly divide us with categorizations are hurting the people they are claiming to help. To propagate the assumption that race, gender, or ethnicity necessarily implies a common political view or personality trait is to add fuel to the fire of discrimination.
America's greatest diversity is that of the 250 million different individuals nationwide. To negate that fact in favor of ethnic determinism is simply unfair. It is very important to be mindful of one's roots but it is equally important to be a part of a greater whole which transcends ethnicity.
