University Wire
September 22, 2004 Wednesday

America should embrace, not erase, ethnic diversity

By Virginia Terzian, Daily Titan; SOURCE: California State U. –
Fullerton

FULLERTON, Calif.

Why is it that with so much effort over the years to be “politically
correct,” I still have to mark ‘other’ on any official document I
fill out?

Like many students not easily ethnically categorized, I found filling
out a scholarship application disconcerting.

As an Armenian-American, I have over 3,000 years of rich history, but
no category to call my own.

I’m not alone in my exile, with a large portion of the world’s
population in my cluster including Persians, Arabs, Russians,
Indians, Native Americans, Central Americans, Pacific Islanders,
biracial and, for that matter, anyone else in the world who doesn’t
fall under the big four: White, Hispanic, African or Asian.

I don’t understand why my ethnicity is of any importance in these
documents at all; does my being Armenian have any bearing on my
intelligence or on my monetary need for financial aid? Of course not.
So, why should it be a factor in determining if I deserve a
scholarship? If we live in a country that respects and wants
diversity, shouldn’t we embrace different backgrounds instead of
attempting to cluster people into large groups and excluding everyone
else?

It would seem the United States has forgotten what makes this a great
country: the idea of respect and equality for all people.

How can we be equal if people are forced to categorize themselves as
simply “others” and lose their ethnicities in the process?

By limiting the options people have in order to define their
background, all we do is perpetuate a cycle of ignorance.

If no one is aware of other ethnicities they are less likely to be
open to diversity.

Also, a large factor of discrimination present on any official
document is the fact that the word “white” seems to be an adequate
definition for anyone who is of European decent. Yet defining someone
as brown, black or yellow would be seen as an act of racism.

Somehow it is fine to categorize an entire region of the planet as
merely white and completely overlook any possibility that this could
offend them. By categorizing people based on the color of their skin
we are taking a huge step back in our history. By marking someone an
“other,” we strip that person of his or her history, heritage and
culture, which is as important today as ever.

We “others” aren’t going anywhere and our numbers are only growing,
so why not remove the labels and allow us all to be defined as what
we truly are: Students, working hard to make a better future for
tomorrow.