The Positive Effect Of Ethnic Diversity
The term “melting pot” was popularized by an immigrant and playwright named Israel Zang will through a play he wrote by the same name in 1908. There was a time when I embraced the “melting pot” concept without any challenge or debate about the issue. After all, it seemed at the time, to capture and express the history and narrative of America as a nation of immigrants from various nations in Europe, Asia, and even Africa (when you consider the slave population). Everyone, regardless of their ethnic background, came from some other continent, except the Native Americans, who are the true indigenous people of the Americas. So, in a true sense, it amazes me and is a statement based upon sheer ignorance, when I hear certain people say that this land that we (regardless of our race) call home, first belonged to Whites. Thank God for what He has done through the arrival of the Europeans, the Africans, and even the Asians to develop and make America the greatest nation upon the Earth. However, we must remain true to the facts of history and never forget that America was the ancestral homeland of the Native Americans long before the arrival of other ethnic groups from Europe, Africa, and Asia. There are some in every ethnic group represented in America who embrace a type of racial belief or philosophy that believe in the separation of various ethnic groups. Some go so far as to argue that certain states and territories should be designated exclusively for certain racial groups. Though there are a few Black nationalists who embrace this doctrine, the overwhelming majority of the people who espouse to this idea are White supremacists who, in their ignorance and bigotry, believe that God created this land exclusively for Whites. Some have even tried to use the Scriptures in justification of their doctrine of separation and arpatheid. Such distortions and twisting of the sacred truths contained in the Bible will ultimately incur the wrath of God (See Proverbs 30:3, 2 Corinthians 2:17, and Revelations 22:18-19) upon the violators.
Earlier, I referenced the term melting pot that has been commonly and historically used to define the various people groups who make up the population of America. This concept sets forth the belief that all ethnic groups are merged and melted down into one compound and corporate entity with their various gifts, abilities, and ideas forming the American concept. This “melting pot” belief is good, but it fails to capture the true thing that makes America unique and great – and that is diversity. It was and shall continue to be our diversity that has given us the advantage in ideas, creativity, ingenuity, science, military, athletics, and etc.
In order to get a better understanding of the positive effect of diversity, we need to look no further than the pattern of creation and nature. The heavens that declare the glory of God (See Psalms 19:1) consist of trillions of galaxies, solar systems, stars, and planets that are unique, distinct, and diverse from one another. The whole earth that is full of the glory of God (See Psalms 72:19) is a planet of diverse oceans, continents, mountain peaks, rivers, and forests with canopies of diverse foliage. There are various species of both plant and animal life that even has diversity within every distinct species. I believe that the idea of America was divinely inspired and that our ethnically diverse population, that now numbers over three hundred million souls, was a part of the Master’s plan. I am convinced that one of the things that makes us strong and unique as a nation is our diversity. The fact that we are all, for the most part, the descendants of immigrants and slaves except the Native Americans, none of us have the right to lay ancestral claim to this nation.
As we face the difficulties of yesterday and today – the lingering problems of systemic racism, the health care crisis, the growing divide between the haves and the have-nots, the reality of a polarized and partisan federal government that has become incompetent and ineffective – there was never a time in the history of our nation when we needed to rely upon the constructive and positive ideas that we can glean from the ethnically diverse core of thinkers and problem solvers. These men and women are on every level – national, state, and local. They are not a part of the “melting pot”, but of the “salad bowl” with innovative and practical solutions for what ails our nation. At the end of the day, it will be the positive effect of diversity that will produce the balm that will heal us from our self-inflicted wounds