The absence of hate doesn't create positive diversity

 Sam Smith - The recent debates about college protests brings to mind something that is largely ignored in our supposed search for ethnic diversity: The absence of hate isn't enough. 

I learned early as one of six children in my family that other people were different than me. Later, in ninth grade, taking what was then one of two high school anthropology courses in the country, I learned that multiculturalism was something positive, not just a problem. I went on to major in anthropology in college becoming forever grateful that the whole world didn't look, talk, or play music like me. One of the gifts of life was variety. 

Then I went back to my hometown of Washington DC where I would live with a black majority for four decades. I read about the ethnic problems other places were having and felt repeatedly grateful that I was a white guy in a friendly black town. 

In short, diversity has been a positive factor in my life but I hardly ever read about it being promoted that way. Instead, it is a matter of ending racism, often in a confrontational manner. There are, of course, plenty of times when dealing with evil is necessary but we need to pay much more attention to the alternative: a positive multicultural society.