AJC Releases New, Comprehensive Publication On Racial And Ethnic Identity In America

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 11 February 1997

The American Jewish Committee today released a unique "written symposium" on race and ethnicity in America -- a comprehensive compilation of essays contributed by 38 of this nation's most thoughtful and thought-provoking voices on these issues.

The 83-page publication, "E Pluribus Unum?: A Symposium on Pluralism and Public Policy," looks at the impact of race and ethnic identity on public policy from the broadest spectrum of American thinkers. It is a product of AJC's Center for American Pluralism, and was released at a special forum examining similar questions of racial and ethnic identity in American politics. The forum was convened by the American Jewish Committee at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel in Washington, DC.

In his foreword, Jeffrey Weintraub, Director of AJC's Center for American Pluralism, writes:

"Today, many fear a not-so-subtle alienation between people of different communities and ideological perspectives. They ask whether this country has forsaken a larger sense of nationhood, and with it, its internal order, values, cohesion, exchanging them for a profusion of smaller, not always compatible nationhoods, or whether, to the contrary, it has too forcefully and for too long insisted on a common identity at the expense of the more frail identities of its parts.

"Journalists and academics sometimes use the term 'culture war' to describe the debate over these issues. Perhaps the controversy might be more appropriately described as full-contact football without pads, as opposed to the two-hand-touch version of the game. It is not a life-and-death conflict that the term 'war' implies, but it is hard to walk away from it without a few cuts and bruises.

"These matters are being discussed, with various degrees of sophistication but a consistent level of emotional intensity, in the news and entertainment media, and in classrooms, courtrooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms. 'Civility' has become a tired buzzword in American media and politics, perhaps because we seem so far from achieving it in our discourse - especially when the subject is race and ethnicity. Our hope is that the honest and respectful exchange of starkly different points of view in this publication will move us closer to a state of civility and help build a broader consensus around the questions we addressed."

Each of the contributors to the symposium was asked to address the following questions:

1. How would you evaluate the current state of American pluralism? Can we achieve a universal, American identity and, at the same time, strong and distinct individual group identities? What factors would you suggest be in place to move us toward a more healthy pluralism?

2. How will current national discourse about various public policies (such as, among others, affirmative action, voting rights, welfare reform, immigration, and education) influence the climate of pluralism in American society? Conversely, how does the climate define the terms of such public policy debates and affect their outcome?

3. Did the 1996 election campaigns - at the federal, state, or local levels - grapple with the kinds of public policy issues mentioned above in ways that will have a meaningful impact on pluralism or that shed light on how we as a society talk about it?

4. How would you characterize the roles of various private institutions and leaders - representing religious, ethnic, racial, and other communities; media; education; business; and foundations - have played in determining the current environment affecting American pluralism? What roles should they play?

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org