The Daily Gamecock

Opinion: Multiculturalism improves America

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default opinion

I recently stumbled upon a Twitter thread, a 44-part series, detailing what urgent policies need to be implemented to keep whites from only making up a mere 43 percent of the country. This @WaspNationalism advocates far flung policies that fall just short of a forced breeding program to keep those census numbers high.

The underlying assumption here being that once whites lose their numerical advantage, we’re just a stone's throw away from the end of days. “Race realists,” as they’ve dubbed themselves, believe different races coexisting is as far fetched as dogs and cats living together — as if we’re a bunch of betta fish with better impulse control. Columbia's only 48 percent white. I just looked outside and I can tell you the city isn’t currently embroiled in a bitter race war. 

Ultimately, we all want the same thing. Hard work isn’t strictly an American value. No society on the globe values laziness. No mother has ever taught her baby child to hurt others, lie, cheat or steal. “Race realists” like to make a lot of hubbub about how Islamic cultures are at odds with Western values. How black on white crime is on the rise. How genetics leave people predisposed to violence. Rather than change their behavior they want to justify their prejudice. 

Here’s the thing: Compared to 50 years ago, more and more people are going to college, life expectancy is high and trending upwards, crime rates are down, have been going down and will continue to go down. At the same time we’re living in an increasingly diverse and integrated country. America is a better place to live in than ever before. Most people enjoy better living conditions than kings did. You think medieval castles had indoor plumbing or pizza rolls? 

What we’re seeing is what happens when you give people who want to succeed the opportunity to succeed. When you deny people access to resources and plain simple peace of mind, you lose out on a lot of amazing innovations. Before huge swaths of the population were locked out of careers. Imagine what the millions of black people could’ve done with a proper education, what women could’ve done if allowed in the workforce, what DACA recipients can do without the fear of being deported. 

People talk about “America first” and how this country should take care of its own before others. Things may not be all hunky-dory for everyone right now. The opioid epidemic is hitting the Midwest hard, the suicide rate is twice as high in rural areas and small town economies were built around factories that’ve packed their bags. It can be frustrating to see other groups make leaps in progress while those around you are seemingly left behind.

Immigrants make for an easy scapegoat, but an immigrant working a field in California isn’t taking a job away from a factory worker in West Virginia. There’s a lot of problems at play in the Midwest, rural brain drain, weakening unions, automation, spread out populations, lack of infrastructure — but not a lot of solutions. Keeping someone out of the country who might have the answer is a disservice to everyone.


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