Our country, The United States of America, was essentially founded on the principles of
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness through solidarity of human kind. In Bernard
R. Boxill's article, "Separation or Assimilation," he fundamentally poses the Hamletesque
question: to assimilate or not to assimilate. Subsequent to the dilemma of some black
cultural nationalists, whom not only argue for assimilation of the black American
populace, but also believe that this assimilation into white culture is inevitable,
against cultural pluralism. Cultural pluralism, which was initialized by W. E.B. Dubois
in the late 19th century, is founded upon the peculiarities of races, living harmoniously
in one nation-state, and lacking superiority or inferiority. Consequently to posing this
question one dictates that there exist certain boundaries between cultures in our
American society. Where do these boundaries come from and are they indeed necessary? Is
integration of these cultures indeed inevitable?
The goal of cultural pluralism as stated by Boxill are to establish pride in one's own
race, to maintain the authenticity of one's own culture, and finally to benefit the world
populace. Through pride, the disdain of inferiorities along with self respect, one
adopts an attitude of self-segregation. Boxill argues for pride as a means of preserving
one's race, overemphasizing differences between individuals because of the color of their
skin or cultural differences, is a great defense to assimilation.
Understanding Dubois's concept of cultural authenticity is to delve into the mysteries
of self-actualization, that is to realize one's own potential. He asks himself, as an
African American, whether his true identity lies in the jungles of Africa or in this land
of America. He is of the opinion that these are his only two options. He concludes that
his true identity goes beyond his American birth, citizenship, political ideals,
language, laws, and religion; deep into the heart of Africa where a timeless culture was
born and should be preserved for its beauty and used to benefit the world populace.
"...the Negro people, as a race, have a contribution to make..."(Dubois,p244) The "Negro
people" as a race, have certainly had a peculiar world condition throughout time and have
had the ability to lend privileged insights into the human condition.
The whole of humanity consists of many parts. From the cultural pluralist perspective,
this whole can be benefitted most by the contribution of gifts from each race of
humanity. But does not true diversity exist in individual persons rather than in large
groups of unique individuals. It would seem obvious that the greatest degree of
solidarity of humanity can be achieved through contributions from the uniqueness every
person possesses. Rather than focusing on and overemphasizing cultural distinctions,
mankind should seek to better relations between races and cultures. This does not mean
that every man should disregard his cultural background. Rather, I am suggesting that
every person acknowledges the facts. First, every man should realize that we are all
individuals and second that we are all human before we are white, black, Hispanic,
Italian, or Chinese. In this way, perhaps man can put an end to the very problems which
stem from racial separation, namely race wars, famine, and unequal distribution of
resources.
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