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LIKE CITIZENS in many other countries, Americans are debating issues of multiculturalism. But the debate in the United States has a special importance because of the profound influence of American ideas around the world. Unfortunately, this influence has not been entirely propitious. It has been beneficial in some cases, but unhelpful in others, serving to exacerbate rather than remedy important injustices. I'll try to explain why this is so, and how the danger can be minimized.
American Multiculturalism
A wide range of views has been expressed in the American debates about multiculturalism, but I think we can see an emerging consensus, or at least a dominant paradigm, centered on the following three claims:
(a) that some or other form of multiculturalism is now unavoidable ("We are all multiculturalists now," as Nathan Glazer puts it), and that the interesting debate is not whether to adopt multiculturalism, but rather what kind of multiculturalism to adopt;
(b) that the appropriate form of multiculturalism must be fluid in its conception of groups and group boundaries (new groups may emerge, older groups may coalesce or disappear); voluntary in its conception of group affiliation (individuals should be free to decide whether and how to affiliate with their community of descent); and nonexclusive in its conception of group identity (being a member of one group does not preclude identification with another, or with the larger American nation). Only such an open-ended, fluid, and voluntary conception of multiculturalism fits with the openness of American society and its deep respect for individual choice; and
(c) that the greatest challenge to creating such a fluid conception of multiculturalism remains the disadvantaged and stigmatized status of African Americans. Being "black" is an ascribed identity that is difficult for most African Americans to escape or renounce. The child of a Greek-Arab mixed marriage can choose whether to think of herself as a Greek-American or Arab-American or both or neither; the child of a Greek-African-American mixed marriage will be seen by others as "black," whether or not that is how she wants to be seen. Moreover, the result of this ascribed identity is a greater degree of social exclusion and segregation than for other ethnic groups: blacks are more likely to live in segregated neighborhoods, attend segregated schools,...