2008 Woodie Awards
Speaker opposes diversity
Lecturer joins conservative group to battle multiculturalism.
By: Melissa Whitson
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: News
To support his views, Taylor compared the current state of America to the less-diverse America of the past.
"America is more diverse now than any time in history," he said. "The United States is also more hated now than any time in history. In 1945, [amidst World War II], the United States was not hated for its strength. In 1945, the U.S. was largely homogenous."
According to Taylor, the idea that heterogeneity is a societal hindrance is made evident by the issues surrounding immigration and the diverse populations infiltrating the historically "white society" of America. Taylor feels these issues are a result of certain races' failure to assimilate once in the United States.
"Multiculturalism goes hand in hand with racial diversity," said Taylor. "After two or three generations, European descended Americans are indistinguishable from other Americans. They go into the melting pot and come out Americans. Blacks and American Indians have not assimilated in the same way as the Irish, Italians, Germans and other Europeans have."
This idea did not sit well with some audience members. Sophomore AbdurRabb Watkins, next year's director of Clemson's council on diversity affairs, was among those who disagreed with Taylor's belief that the European establishment of America can be credited for the United States' power and success. "America was built on the backs of minorities," Watkins pointed out. "Also, Native Americans and African Americans were an involuntary minority. It's a crazy notion for those groups to feel obligated to assimilate."
The reason some minority groups have not adapted to America's culture as well as other groups, Taylor believes, is not necessarily solely due to prejudice, but because of a biologically attributable trend. Taylor went on to explain how a part of the brain called the amygdalae may influence one's level of comfort around those of a different race. These small groups of neurons play a role in emotional responses to memory and help a person more quickly recognize faces of people of the same race than those of different races.
"America is more diverse now than any time in history," he said. "The United States is also more hated now than any time in history. In 1945, [amidst World War II], the United States was not hated for its strength. In 1945, the U.S. was largely homogenous."
According to Taylor, the idea that heterogeneity is a societal hindrance is made evident by the issues surrounding immigration and the diverse populations infiltrating the historically "white society" of America. Taylor feels these issues are a result of certain races' failure to assimilate once in the United States.
"Multiculturalism goes hand in hand with racial diversity," said Taylor. "After two or three generations, European descended Americans are indistinguishable from other Americans. They go into the melting pot and come out Americans. Blacks and American Indians have not assimilated in the same way as the Irish, Italians, Germans and other Europeans have."
This idea did not sit well with some audience members. Sophomore AbdurRabb Watkins, next year's director of Clemson's council on diversity affairs, was among those who disagreed with Taylor's belief that the European establishment of America can be credited for the United States' power and success. "America was built on the backs of minorities," Watkins pointed out. "Also, Native Americans and African Americans were an involuntary minority. It's a crazy notion for those groups to feel obligated to assimilate."
The reason some minority groups have not adapted to America's culture as well as other groups, Taylor believes, is not necessarily solely due to prejudice, but because of a biologically attributable trend. Taylor went on to explain how a part of the brain called the amygdalae may influence one's level of comfort around those of a different race. These small groups of neurons play a role in emotional responses to memory and help a person more quickly recognize faces of people of the same race than those of different races.
