The Challenge of Diversity Essay -- Society Diversity

When America was founded, it was established on freedom and equality for all people. At first it was just religious freedom, but eventually freedom of speech, press, petition, and more. In time, America began to be known as a â€Å"melting pot† of cultures as more and more people came because they wanted this freedom; the more people who came though, the more problems America had. There were too many cultural discrepancies between people, and ultimately America, the country based on freedom and equality, faced challenges concerning diversity. So, why do we need diversity? As America grows, the differences in cultures among individuals become colossal. People are becoming closed-minded about others who are disparate from themselves, which creates tautness and naivetà © about other cultures. â€Å"For all societies at all times have their particular blind spots, groups within their culture and also groups abroad that are especially likely to be dealt with ignorance and obtusely† (Nussbaum). Since we live in a nation that is always growing and will always have diversity, we need to become more conscious of others. If we solely live life only coming in contact with those who are similar to us, no one will benefit. But â€Å"if we have more contact with people of other ethnic and racial backgrounds (or at least more contact in the right circumstances), we will begin to trust one another more† (Putnam 141). We need to become more socially engaged with those who are dissimilar from us so that we can becom e cognizant of other cultures around us. Becoming acquainted with other cultures is more than just coming into contact with others though. We need to assent them and recognize where they are coming from so that we can strengthen our com... ...violent Resistance." King, Martin Luther, Jr. Stride toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. New York: New York Harper, 1958. 240. Loewen, James. "Down the Memory Holw." Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. New York: Touchstone, 1995. 384. Nussbaum, Martha. "Cultivating Imaginations: Literature and the Arts." Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 1990. Putnam, Robert. "E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty First Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture." Scandinavian Political Studies 30.2 (2007): 137-174. St. John, Warren. Outcasts United. New York: Random House, Inc. , 2009. The Lost Boys of Sudan. Dirs. Jon Shenk and Megan Mylan. 2003.