Is Cultural Pluralism a Viable and Valid Way to Deal with Diversity in the United States - Research Paper Example

Is cultural pluralism a viable and valid way to deal with diversity in the United States? Cultural pluralism is a viable and valid way, even a necessary way of dealing with diversity in the United States. In the last one hundred years there has not been a unified national identity in the United States and a unified national identity is neither possible nor desirable today. Arguably, there was no national identity even at the time of the Revolution and the birth of the United States. One could argue that there was a national identity that unified the American colonies in their opposition to Great Britain in the last decades of the eighteenth-century. However, that was a unity against Great Britain rather than a unity within the newly formed United States. The colonists were unified in their opposition to 'taxation without representation' and other impositions that they felt membership in the British Empire was imposing on them. However, beyond that shared belief there was already a great deal of diversity in the United States. First, there were the indigenous peoples and the African-American population. Both of these groups were excluded from participating in the governance of the new nation (as were women). This alone is evidence of diversity. On another level even the European immigrants newly arrived in North America brought with them diverse cultures. Many were religious dissenters such as William Penn and the Quakers that founded Pennsylvania and the Puritans that had founded the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Manhattan had been founded by the Dutch and there was still a large number of people of Dutch heritage who spoke Dutch in the area at the time of the Revolution. The Constitution itself also speaks to the diversity within the United States over 200 hundred years ago. In light of the diversity of the newly formed United States the Constitution specifically ruled out the establishment of a state, official religion and guaranteed freedom of religion. The first phrase in the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Religious diversity was an aspect of American national identity from the birth of the United States. The Constitution also recognizes that the former colonies, now states, are each unique. Each state maintained control over specific aspects of life and government within the state and and Article 4. of the Constitution, “The States” outlines the autonomy and independence that states maintain, “Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State.” In other words, each state is responsible for respecting the unique laws of every other state, this is, by definition, diversity. This issue of 'states' rights' came to the fore in the debate over slavery. The agrarian economy of the South was based on slavery while in the industrializing northern states slavery was a less important social institution. The Civil War can be seen as an expression of this division within American society and the determination of the southern states to maintain their 'unique institution' of slavery. This cleavage between agrarian, slave-owning southern states and industrializing, capitalist northern states, is evidence of diversity. In this instance it was a cleavage or difference that brought the nation to Civil War before it was resolved. This is clear evidence of significant diversity in the United States 150 years ago. In the wake of the Civil War immigration to the United States from diverse areas of Europe increased and so did national diversity. The term melting pot is often used to describe the immigrant experience in the United States, but the reality has always been much different. A brief survey of criminal history of the United States is a convenient way to highlight this diversity. During the Prohibition era the gangs that controlled illicit alcohol sales were divided by ethnicity. In Chicago there was the Irish gang of Dion O'Banion and the Italian gangs led by Al Capone. In New York there were Jewish gangs led by Meyer Lansky, Arnold Rothstein (famous for fixing the 1919 World Series and the Chicago 'Black' Sox scandal) and Bugsy Siegel. The Mafia, an Italian criminal organization, is known within the Italian community as "Cosa Nostra" ("Our thing")- this name alone speaks to diversity. This ethnic division in criminality was evident before Prohibition and is portrayed in the movie, “The Gangs of New York” and persists today in the newly formed ethnic gangs such as the "Russkaya Mafiya"; Chicano gangs like the “Varrio Nuevo Estrada” (VNE) and the “Sureños”; and, African-American gangs like the “Crips” and the “Bloods'. (And also in television shows like “The Sopranos”. Moreover, this diversity is evident in far more than criminal behavior. Immigrants tend to settle in ethnic communities, find work through ethnically similar contacts and develop commercial interests – from grocery stores to banks and travel agencies – catering to their ethnic community. This is entirely understandable and reasonable. It also maintains ethnic identity and, by implication, encourages diversity and cultural diversity rather than the proverbial melting pot. This multicultural milieu has been further diversified with waves of new immigrants in the wake of the Vietnam War, Latinos arriving from throughout South and Central America, eastern Europeans and former residents of the Soviet Union and most recently, Muslim and African immigrants and refugees. The concept of America being a melting pot has always been more of a myth than a reality. As the sources of immigrants to the United States continues to diversify so too does the population of the United States. References The United States Constitution. 10 December 2010. Read More