When two studies on diversity showed results that sociologist did not expect, the right-wing was ecstatic. Diversity, it seems, does not help foster interaction among people of different races. In fact, the studies concluded quite the opposite.
"With stunning regularity, he found Americans in more diverse locales tending to "hunker down and pull in like a turtle," suspicious not just of the new or different, but of everybody." Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam said in his massive nationwide study. (Source)
Putnam's findings were just what conservatives wanted to hear after the Supreme Court struck down race as criterion for school integration plans. The court ruled that other factors would have to be considered.
So, if diversity in schools was supposed to bring about greater integration among students, it has been a failure, critics concluded.
"In their (Joseph Gerteis and American Mosaic Project colleagues Douglas Hartmann and Penny Edgell) study, based on a national survey of more than 2,000 respondents conducted in 2003, they found that fewer than 5 percent considered diversity mostly a weakness in American life. Forty-three percent said it was mostly a source of strength, and 50 percent replied that it was equally a source of strength and weakness." (Source)
While most Americans see diversity as a worthy goal, in practice, the idea seems to make many people nervous.
"They don't trust their neighbors or shop clerks; they are not as involved in the community," Putnam said. "The only two things that go up as diversity rises are protest marches and TV watching." (Source)
And it is this later finding that ought to give right-wingers pause. It is a finding that shows America continues to struggle with issues of race more than 140 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation and more than a half century after the landmark Brown VS. Board of Education decision. If we continue to struggle with race, diversity programs like affirmative action and school busing do have a place in our society. The goals of equality and tolerance have yet to be fulfilled.
But Americans continue to see diversity as a worthwhile goal, even if achieving that goal takes several more decades. I think that the difference between what most Americans want to be like and what they are can be attributed to the strong constitutional government and American's recognition of our country as a nation of immigrants.
And, if diversity is as unachievable a goal as the right-wing would have us believe, then at least one aspect of the War in Iraq is doomed to failure. For what is the establishment of a democratic regimen founded on the principles of equal rights and equal justice than an attempt to foster diversity and tolerance on a nation-wide scale? And, if it has taken the United States this long to appreciate those rights only truly exist when they are enjoyed by all, how much longer will it take for Iraqis to come to the same realization?
The US has come to this point through more than 200 years of honoring the rule of law. The Iraqi factions have been each other's enemies for centuries, with no great tradition for the rule of law.
And if Iraqis are watching our country right now as American rights are eroded in the name of security, how can we convince them that these are rights worth fighting and dying for?
In other words, we have to heal the wounds caused by injustice ourselves before we can model values like religious and racial tolerance to other nations.
Years ago the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said he dreamed of a day when people would be judged on the content of their character and not their skin. These two studies show that King's dream has been deferred.