Diversity is a tough word to nail down. It avoids simple definitions and obvious answers. To many, the word is an annoyance--just another buzzword intellectuals throw around in their tireless pursuit of blame. For the average American, diversity is a theory or a dream with no reality or substance. Diversity becomes especially hard to define when it falls into the hands of government officials. The concept is too complicated and complex to be translated into the language of bureaucracy and come out pure and unblemished.
The UW-Madison bureaucracy has proven this true in its attempt to define diversity as a number, a mean total of students of color needed to reach an acceptable level of integration. No matter how you phrase the struggle of African-Americans in today's society, the concept of a diverse and tolerant community cannot be argued against except by the fringe elements of hatred and abuse that exist wherever the vigilance of the righteous has fallen short. However, is creating a predetermined mix of students of different ethnic backgrounds on a university campus going to create diversity? Is instituting an ethnic studies requirement going to further the existence of an enlightened and diverse community? Is America, and especially this university, becoming complacent and allowing the insidiousness of racism to creep into our hearts and minds?
Surprisingly, what was once a push to keep African-Americans from attending college is now a hectic race to recruit as many minorities as possible. An initial reaction would be to cheer and celebrate the new position of the African-American. The battle over segregation and racism was fought and won, and a government program requiring diversity is the well-earned reward. Civil-rights marchers were thrown in jail, beaten, abused, unfairly tried and convicted, threatened with death and murdered in order to achieve affirmative action, the Equal Voting Rights amendment and a slew of other conciliatory programs.
If you believe this, you are wrong. The marches of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. were not based on negotiating from a strong position or accumulating political power. They were about the inalienable, God-given rights of every person on this planet to be treated with the human dignity and respect he or she deserves. There can be no negotiating with a position taken in defense of the abused and the weak.
Society tends to believe that as soon as government has acted upon an issue, the problem is pulled from the realm of personal responsibility and into a theoretical world called \government responsibility."" At UW-Madison, this theoretical world is called Plan 2008 and represents the university's best effort to fulfill the government-required quota of African-Americans. The university wants X amount of minorities and is willing to pay X amount of money, as put forth in this handy, goal-oriented plan.
Red flags should immediately be raised by every student on campus. Not only will Plan 2008 fail to help create an atmosphere of support and respect for students of color, it will reinforce the stereotype that students of color are only numbers on a page. However, there may be no other option available. American society continues to reject its personal responsibility to provide a quality education to every child of every income level; it refuses to acknowledge the link between centuries of slavery and high levels of poverty among African-Americans; and it is still trying to find ways to avoid truly integrated and equal school systems.
At best, Plan 2008 will provide the one thing desperately needed by the majority of African-American children--a chance at a college education. Yet, without a change in how our society views the problems of race in America there will still be pictures of African-Americans doctored into admissions brochures, votes not being counted in predominantly African-American neighborhoods and prisons filled with a disproportionately large number of African-American inmates.
