Cherish Diversity In America

In discussions of America, one controversial issue has been whether or not America cherishes diversity. On one hand, Eboo Patel, in his work “Making the Future Better, Together,” claims that America does in fact cherish diversity, while using quotes from both Martin Luther King Jr. and George Washington to further prove his point. On the other hand, Jena McGregor, in her work “Fixing Hollywood’s Diversity Problem,” opposes the idea that America cherishes diversity by claiming that Hollywood needs to be more diverse, precisely in the Academy. Even though McGregor only speaks about the problems with Hollywood, instead of the entire United States, the majority of my class still switched to ‘No’. My own view is that America does cherish diversity because of the recognition of the different ethnicities and religions,.

Contrasting from before, when America had just started off, there are many

significant events today that were made just to recognize our diversity. Both Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month were created in appreciation of America’s colored people. Not only is color taken into recognition, but so is gender as well. America has granted women equal rights, and celebrates the female gender on National Women’s Day. During the classroom debate, much of the students who disagreed with the idea of America cherishing diversity said it was because there have been “No Female Presidents’ or “Only One Black President”. However, they have utterly taken the meaning out of those words and denatured it to make it seem like America lacks diversity. The fact of the matter is that we have finally had our first black president who had been elected for not one, but two terms, and we have a female candidate who wishes to run for president next year. Diffusing McGregor’s point in her work, “Fixing Hollywood’s Diversity Problem,” she mentions that “All 20 of the nominees in the acting category are white, and there is not a single woman in the directing or screenwriting categories.” McGregor is mistaken because she overlooks the fact that in the overall nominees, “Selma”, a movie describing Martin Luther King Jr. and his inspiring struggles, was also one of the nominees for an Academy Award (according to http://oscar.go.com/nominees).
Religion is immensely important in this country.

It has been spoken and heard about all the time. America has been able to recognize the many different religions, allowing us the freedom to exercise and become more involved in our religion. It is in the First Amendment, after all. Just like we have Black History and Hispanic Heritage Month, we have holidays for many dissimilar religions. Christmas, Hanukkah, Easter and many more holidays celebrate the religions of many in America. In the start of his work, Patel writes about Moses Sessius, and how he thought aloud to George Washington, pondering if America would be safe for his people, the Jews. Washington then responded to him, saying that “The Government of the United States…gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.” To put it succinctly, Washington believes that in America, there is no harassment to religions nor race, and that everyone who resides in America should remain in humility and be respectable

citizens.
To conclude with, the importance of America valuing diversity shows how as the nation cultivates in population, it is also increasing in wisdom, humility, and most importantly, it is growing together, as one whole country. This growth right now is what not only the Forefathers saw, but what our strong leaders saw, and what we are starting to piece together. It is what Martin Luther King Jr. saw, when he gave his enthralling speech on having a dream. America understands why it is best to stick together, why they cannot just branch apart. The United States is called the ‘United States’ for a purpose. Not just because of land, but because of the future.