Multiculturalism in Action - Grab Your Helmet

In Los Angeles, the disturbing rioting between black and Hispanic students in an inner-city high school was analyzed at length [Searching for Lessons in Jefferson High Melee [1]].

Sadly, the ethnic conflict between black and hispanic students in the school was entirely predictable. It would be wonderful if we could "just all get along," but human nature is hardwired for suspicion [2] about those who look or speak different from our familiar tribe.

It's only the media's daily dose of multiculturalism propaganda that makes some citizens surprised when humans act normally. An honest look at history shows that our little planet has been awash in wars and conflict based on just those differences we are urged to celebrate &#151 race, religion, ethnicity, language and culture.

The politically correct ideology of peace, love and diversity [3] quickly comes unglued under stress, as people fall back into instinctual, rather than learned, behavior. But it's only our tribal roots showing. Having a strongly developed sense of us-versus-them [4] was a good way to stay alive throughout much of human history.

There were quotes from the kids that must have chilled the blood of some pro-diversity types in the LA Times editorial offices.

"I felt good defending my race," [an anonymous Latino student] wrote. "I was hitting anybody I could get my hands on.... Many of my friends who knew I was involved in the fight asked me, 'Aren't you proud that our people are at war with the blacks?' … Because of that fight, I lost many friends who are African American. The whole tension between Latinos and blacks is changing the way we all think about each other."

Incidentally, note that on the 2003-4 graph of the Los Angeles Unified School District [5] white students are so few that they are now grouped with "other." LA is now a largely Mexican city, a demographic transformation that occurred in a heartbeat [6].