Submitted by Temple3 on June 16, 2006 - 12:41pm.
Are Americans Suffering Diversity Fatigue?
People are willing to be tolerant, but only to a certain point. And from California to the Midwest and Florida, signs of exclusionary thinking are popping up all over.
Has it become okay to exclude again?
Perhaps one of the most treasured of American rights is the freedom of association. This is the right to hang out with whomever we want, wherever we want. It's a complicated right, because when we hang out with "people like us," inevitably someone gets kept out. Where and how to draw the line is a question we all seem to be struggling with right now.
Black Jack, Mo., made national headlines late last month when it drew its firm line. An unmarried couple with three children tried to move into the house they had just bought. The house is zoned for single family residences—and the city decided this family does not fit their legal definition of family. The couple pleaded with the city council to change the law. The city said no, and intends to evict. When this news broke, many assumed Black Jack must be one of those white, religious conservative towns in the Bible Belt. But Black Jack turned out to be a suburb of St. Louis, and it’s 70% African American. Their enforcement of the zoning doesn't seem to be motivated by race or religion—just a genuine desire to preserve the pro-family environment.
T3 says: In reading the article I found it interesting that the labels Conservative and Liberal are tossed around without any consistency whatsoever. Note that a black man in Nebraska who is cognizant of racism is considered liberal - even though his politics appear traditional and conservative. "Nor should we assume this urge to withdraw is only a conservative tactic. In the state of Nebraska, the only black member of the state legislature is Ernie Chambers. Ernie is so liberal that a colleague in the legislature said, “Ernie sees racism when he pours his breakfast cereal.” But Ernie Chambers recently pushed through a new bill that carves Omaha’s school district into three—a black district, a white district, and a Hispanic district. He thinks this will protect black schools from being cheated of their fair share of bond proceeds. He also says black families should decide what black children are being taught. They think they’ll be better off taking care their own."
"It's clear people are tired of walking on eggshells, afraid to offend those with different beliefs, ideas, and lifestyles. It's grown exhausting, and they want their lives back. The idea of diversity seems to have worn out its welcome. It is now like a house guest who has stayed too long."
This is the type of phrase that is likely to get some circulation in the coming months. I suspect an entire cottage industry could open up for consultants. Diversity Fatigue: How to Roll Back without Selling Out. OR Team Unity: Celebrating Our Common Bonds without Too Much Face Time.
While I don't think tolerance or diversity are meaningful words, I do believe the wanton labeling of conservative and liberal simply demonstrates an ongoing commitment to confuse folks who already know precious little about those labels.
As usual the mainstream media's take on this issue will result in a great deal of mindless confusion. The right to engage in social discrimination, that is, the right to decide who you wish to invite into your home or call a friend, for example, is an extremely important right. I thought, for example, that black folks and women were headed down a slippery slope when some of them began demanding that whites or men open up their exclusive clubs and social organizations to them. Black people should not have expended one iota of their political capital on this issue.
I come from a long line of black folks who could care less about white people not wanting to invite us to join their clubs. One much older black man of my acquaintance once told me that when he was invited to join an ultra-exclusive country club in the Bay Area that he turned the invitation down because he didn't want his wife and children associating with white folks who were members of that club.
The actions of this St. Louis suburb has nothing to do with social discrimination at all and the issue should not be cast in that form. There is nothing in the law that requires the current residents of that neighborhood or the family seeking to move into the home they purchased to associate with one another. Using zoning laws to prevent this family from occupying their home will eventually cost the residents of that suburb money.
If an area is zoned single-family there is no corresponding requirement that the two adults must be married or even of different genders. Whether or not the neighbors wish to associate with them is a vastly different question than whether or not these two adults and their children have the right to purchase and live in a home of their choosing.