What is multiculturalism? Is it a prized collection of Native American and African and Afro-American studies classes? Is it a fine list of various ethnic studies departments and programs? Is it the institutional attempt to educate blacks and other "historically disadvantaged" peoples about their histories? Is it our hard-earned, long-overdue, and well-deserved place in the academy? It would seems that multiculturalism is precisely these things.
If this is true, and I have not missed some important fact, there is a sneering irony, even a tragedy, in this offering, this "place" which we have been granted.
I came to Dartmouth in order to advance my social position and my economic condition. I am no hireling- I have a burning desire to learn and partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
The liberal arts education exists to teach useful knowledge, but not all of that is marketable , useful in climbing the ladder of American success - which is why I came to college.
The knowledge found in multicultural classes is useful in solidifying personal identity or providing prostheses for crippled racial perceptions. But the name of the game is not personal development - that can be done on one's own time. The name of the game is institutional achievement.
When I arrived, I found myself unprepared for the harsh realities of this social class. I found myself floating, not anchored to my past. I was unable to reconcile my own past with my current position. This is the situation many of you still find yourselves in.
In light of our collective state of "historical disadvantage" and confusion, it is an ironic twist of fate (if not a cruel trick of hate) that our very chance to improve our lives is contaminated with distractions which play upon the weakness of our dazed and malnourished condition. "Multiculturalism," as expressed by the wide array of classes targeted toward us, is just such a distraction.
Not unlike the golden apples of Hippomenes, these classes sometimes distract us from the road to freedom, delaying us with temporary appeasement of our hunger. While many of us hunger for our pasts so that we might be sustained into the future, we here are in a unique position relative to the rest of our communities.
We are running the race of Atalanta, the fastest woman in all the land, distracted and slowed to defeat by shiny, golden apples planted along her route. The secrets of American success are just over that hill! The keys to the doors of opportunity are within sight! Some even say that we have a duty to finish if only to share these soul-satisfying secrets with those left behind, too weak to run the race.
All too often, however, students like us start out upon the journey and become distracted by questions about our blackness. All too often, we come to college and become obsessed with our ethnic identities and attending ideologies, and we become filled with a desire to learn more about ourselves - to celebrate ourselves in ceremony and sacrament. Lo and behold! Classes are offered! We enroll dutifully, and this we do in remembrance of Them, our Ancestors. We chew tenderly these golden morsels of history, and pass them one to another.
After filling ourselves with the shining apples along this road, we nap quietly, falling further and further behind. Are we to be blamed for our starved and vulnerable condition? No, that is "historical disadvantage." Are we to be responsible for our own advancement, and for our victory or defeat? Yes, that is the challenge.
While it is good to desire to learn about oneself and one's history, one must keep sight of the goal! Do not be distracted from the race! You would not have started out if you were not capable of finishing.
If you can run and eat at once, then do so, but if you cannot, stave off hunger a bit longer. At the end of the road is your satisfaction.
