Immutable behavior, which was once located in the body, is now just as firmly fixed in the mind, remarks Judith Goode in her essay “Teaching Against Cultural Essentialism,” a professor of Anthropology and Urban Studies at Temple University. “Culture displaces the problematic concept of race but is used in similarly essentialist ways.”

People that conclude “They can’t help it, it’s their culture,” are still living in their ethnocentric world. They have strayed from using terms of race, but have attached certain cultures with particular races. By doing so they have managed to, at all cost, avoid being racist. When in reality, it is very similar to contemporary remarks heard in common language in the mid 1900’s, “They can’t help it, they’re black.”

The argument here is multiculturalism has become a soft form of racism and the word race has essentially been replaced by the word culture.

First of all, multiculturalism is quite a funny term. When broken down, the word multi-cultural-ism becomes “multi” meaning several, “cultural,” (all learned information), and “ism,” an action, process, or practice.

We have concluded multiculturalism to be a positive thing. It practically becomes an excuse to throw a party. For example, “Hey it’s Cinco de Mayo, let’s throw a Mexican party!”

Goode remarks, “…packaged performances of culture at a distance allow other Americans to consume aestheticized commodities like food, music, and dance. These ‘good’ folkloric presentations of culture are silent about the perceived ‘bad’ parts of some heritages.”

In other words, cultural diversity is not just about throwing as many ethnic foods on one dinner plate with all of your friends that look different.

The politics of racism run deep within American culture and is embedded in our history. Anthropology professor at Wellesley College, Sally Engle summarizes in her essay, Racialized Identities and the Law, “Until the mid-20th century, the right to become a naturalized citizen was reserved to whites. The law remained in force from 1790 to 1952. During that period, a series of court decisions determined who was ‘white’ and who was not. In 1885, a Chinese immigrant who applied for citizenship was denied because he was not ‘white.’ In 1922, a culturally Americanized Japanese immigrant was denied because he was not Caucasian, even though he spoke English, his children attended an American school and he belonged to an American church. In 1921, Koreans who had performed military service for the United States were considered Mongolians, thus denied citizenship. And finally, although a 1910 court decision held that Asian Indians were whites, in 1923 the Supreme Court ordered that whites were only the peoples of northern or western Europe even though Asian Indians might be Caucasian.”

In my own experience of being bi-racial, half white and half Mexican, only one half is apparent on the outside. Had I been in a situation where I needed to apply for citizenship, I would suppose I’m damn lucky because I look white. But good-bye Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, I’m sorry you couldn’t get in.

Cultural essentialism, as explained by Goode, is roughly the same as multiculturalism, but in a sense where Americans can deny race, having everyone (in one’s own eyes) assimilate to whiteness, and conclude that we have “unity in diversity.”

It has become quite ironic that the United States chose to be divided from the rest of the world. Even though we are integrated, it doesn’t mean we’re reconciled. This is not to pose a responsibility among a single race, but as a responsibility as a whole.

White people, this doesn’t mean sit down and start counting how many minority friends you have. And the other 54 percent, this by far doesn’t mean that you should sit around and wait for a white person to become your friend. Then finally, those of you who are bi-racial, what golden opportunities we have holding backgrounds of both an oppressor and the oppressed. If you’re laughing, that’s okay, the Divided States is still a great place to live.