[Vision2020] Diversity 1,2,3

Douglas dougwils@moscow.com
Fri, 31 Oct 2003 09:35:11 -0800


Visionaries,

Two comments, if you all have moment. I separated "y'all" into "you all" as 
a concession to others on a sensitive topic.

First, I agree completely with Rod's exposure of the hypocrisy that 
pervades this kind of issue. A color-blind society should mean one of two 
things: either nobody gets to do it, or everybody gets to do it. Our PC 
police have mandated an "everybody but Bubba" application. So the hypocrisy 
is blatant.

But, secondly, addressing the quotes that were posted yesterday on the 
"browning" of certain aspects of southern culture, allow me to offer this 
ironic dissent, using the Episcopalians for an example. Phillip Jenkins has 
written a wonderful book called The Next Christendom, detailing what 
exactly is going on in the browner parts of the globe. I believe a section 
of that book was published in the Atlantic, for those who want to hunt for 
it on-line.

What is not going on there is the ordaining of homosexual bishops. The 
Third World bishops are up in arms over the actions of the American church 
in this, as well they should be. In many cases, the so-called browning of 
our culture actually represents a return to the earlier values that our 
culture once had, but no longer has. I much prefer Trinitarian brown and 
black to apostate white. And you can quote me. But you probably won't. 
Wouldn't fit with the paradigm.

Cordially,

Douglas Wilson






At 07:11 AM 10/31/2003 +0000, you wrote:
>The stated mission of the League of the South is to “seek to advance the 
>cultural, social, economic, and political well being and independence of 
>the Southern People by all honourable means.”
>
>Melynda Huskey sees the “racism” in this organization.  I knew she would 
>eventually.  But one could just as easily replace “southern people” with 
>any other group imaginable, and the League would immediately qualify for a 
>special place at the official multiculti table under the auspices of the 
>WSU Office of Diversity and Human Relations, and probably under the 
>official auspice of Melynda Huskey herself.
>
>After all, just to take one example, the Filipino American Student 
>Association at WSU exists “to redefine and instill pride in the Filipino 
>American students; to promote awareness of Filipino culture through 
>cultural events such as lectures, folk and contemporary dance, literature, 
>and exhibits; to provide a support group for Filipino American students; 
>to provide a means for networking for Filipino American students; to 
>develop leadership skills in students for diversity of campus activities; 
>and to foster a supportive learning environment for academic success for 
>Filipino American students.”  Inclusive, I ask, or exclusive?
>
>Relatively benign, anyway, because such an organization is formed around 
>ethnicity more than race, but then there are also the WSU organizations 
>that are defined by race alone, such as the African-American student 
>association, and the Chicano/a and Latino/a organization, which annually 
>celebrates the “Semana de la Raza” (“Week of the Race”) and the “Fiesta 
>Aztlan.”  Aztlan, for those not familiar with the term, consists partly of 
>the other South; that is to say, the southWESTERN portion of the United 
>States that existed before the imperialist Yanquis (Yankees) took over the 
>place.  Anything sound familiar here?  Maybe the League of the South 
>should simply change their name to “La Liga del Sur,” and they wouldn’t 
>hear a peep from the SPLC.
>
>Well, Melynda might say, these groups are okay because they do not bring 
>along with them the all-male rough and tough baggage that the League has.
>Is that really a concern, when WSU also has an official Sikh Student 
>Association “to promote sikh culture, history, values and traditions 
>within the university”?  Am I missing something??!!
>
>So, why is this?  Why is “racism” so one-sided?  Is it something that can 
>only be committed by the bland people against groups that are more exotic?
>Doesn't this hint at a latent missionary ethic?  Or does it simply have to 
>do with that “dominant culture” thing?  I, however, think our culture is 
>much more dominated by a Melynda Huskey than a Steve Wilkins, or at least 
>we are subjected daily to the state-sanctioned pronouncements and 
>activities of the former, while the pronouncements and activities of the 
>latter are under investigation by the SPLC (which, as Cockburn puts it, is 
>a virtual subcontractor for the FBI, and is thereby "state-sanctioned").
>
>Melynda, can you walk the talk?  Would the Office of Diversity and Human 
>Relations allow and encourage a student chapter of the League of the South?
>
>- Rod Johnson
>
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