Tired of insensitive and uninformed editorials about self-segregation? Instead, let's discuss something we can all understand. Something warm and fuzzy, something tangible that the Dartmouth community can really get their grips around.
Let's talk about crayons.
It seems that Crayola has added a new box of crayons to its already wild array. First, there were the standard box of eight and the deluxe box of sixty-four (with bonus sharpener). Then came the pastels.
In its time, Crayola has certainly come out with some outrageous colors, including the flourescent crayons of the eighties. In the nineties, however, Crayola has taken a different approach: Multi-Cultural Crayons.
Yes, indeed. You, too, can now own your very own box of sixteen Multicultural Crayons.
In my wildest dreams I attempted to guess the contents of the Multicultural box. Would there be an Angry-White-Person crayon? A standard African color? What Crayola color could possibly be used to "color in" a Native American?
After all, the colors must be a radically different species to be placed in a separate category. I imagined the Multiculturals sitting on the shelf next to the "normal" crayon boxes, separate but equal.
I imagined, as well, a little white girl pointing at the shelf of segregated crayons: "Look, Mommy!"
"No," the mother would chide. "Those crayons are to color the other children."
The suspense thus rose to an unbearable level. I had to know the contents of the box. Lo and behold, the box consisted of a selection of the same crayons Crayola had always used: mahogany, apricot, burnt sienna, goldenrod.
On a closer examination, the box read, "This Multicultural assortment contains 16 different skin, hair and eye colors for coloring people around the world." Apparently, the color of someone's skin and/or eyes is raw sienna.
I was disappointed that my reasoning had proven faulty. In fact, there were no new colors inside the fresh new packaging. Could it really be that the Multicultural crayons were just like all of the other crayons? They looked the same. They smelled the same. They colored the same. Further, all crayons can get worn down, all crayons break sometimes, but if one can afford the bonus sharpener, it is possible to rejuvenate an old crayon.
Indeed, could it be that deep down, despite our different colors, we are all simply human beings, capable of being broken and overused, but also resilient enough to grow in the face of adversity? What a novel concept.
Tolerance and acceptance of diversity are learned by example. Do multicultural crayons do the trick in this case? Not when Dartmouth's campus is racially divided beyond reason. Not when affirmative action is being dismantled, starting with the University of California's system. Not when the highest percentage group of prisoners in this nation is Black and male.
It is an utter shame that we feel the need to mend and patch these injustices with bandaids. It is even more of a shame that we must then market "multiculturalism" as a separate (but equal) entity in our society. Children have two eyes. They can plainly see that a white crayon will not do to "color in" an Afro-American. Similarly, they can see through the bandages we place over our racism. They learn hate from the hateful practices that still pervade our society, and it is not un-learned from silly marketing and advertising tactics, or from the understanding that "multiculturalism" is the buzz word of the day.
Tolerance, acceptance and integration will only come once we step out of our own isolation and create connections with people who are different from ourselves. When "multiculturalism" is no longer a separate category to be found in a campus committee, a three block section of a major metropolis, or a toy store shelf, we will have finally begun to eradicate the hate.
