Stress similiarities, not differences

Letter to the editor

To the editor:
   Not too long ago when many of our ancestors immigrated to this country they came here with the dream of improving their lives by taking advantage of all the United States had to offer; freedom, opportunity and equality.
   Nearly all of them wanted to be sewn into the fabric of an inherently American culture, to blend in, to enjoy the fruits of capitalism, to raise their children as Americans in an American culture. Somewhere along the way there was a value shift away from our traditional culture. We became obsessed with ethnicity, separatism and political correctness. One only has to look to how the government, the media and many of our citizens have promoted the use of the hyphen; African-Americans, Arab-Amercans, Italian-Americans; the list is endless. It is quite evident that the very people who fought so hard to integrate our society, end discrimination, work towards equality and help people to become truly part of the American culture have helped to create and perpetuate a disconnected and separatist society; a form of American apartheid that is only getting worse.
   People don’t want to blend in anymore. Just look at the signs; countless ethnic heritage days, segregated neighborhoods, separate flags based on race or sexual preference, not to mention the waving of other country’s flags at sports events. In many communities there is no compelling reason to even speak English or ever learn it. We have been wringing our hands nervouslessly and worrying so much as to whether or not we are offending some group that we have become paralyzed and have withdrawn into our own closets of self doubt. Our leaders and institutions have told us that multiculturalism and diversity are the answers to our problems. Our government and employers spend billions on diversity programs, affirmative action and other ethnicity and race-based initiatives. All this has served only to highlight our differences and move us further away from what should be promoted; our commonality as Americans. If you look up the word "diverse," it means "different." Why celebrate differences when we can be celebrating what we have in common.
   Over the last eight years we have literally opened our borders to a flood of new immigrants both legal and illegal. We can’t even track who is here, why they are here or how long they are staying. If we had not been so obsessed with race, ethnicity and political correctness, we might even have been able to prevent the terrorists from the horrible bombings that took place on our very shores from entering the country. All of this has been born of fear; fear of being perceived as not being "sensitive," fear of being branded a racist and fear of being American.
   There is an American culture and we need to embrace it before we watch our country become more divided.
Thomas D. Greenwood
Hightstown