Our Multicultural Beach
Cal State Long Beach is one of the most diverse campuses in the United States. We are proud that, like California, our campus has no ethnic group as a majority. We are home to almost 1,700 international students from 96 countries, and our diversity is also apparent in the gender and gender identities, ages, veteran status, sexual orientations, and religious beliefs of our community members. We are home to 29 cultural clubs and 33 other cultural organizations.
What an opportunity to experience the world without leaving The Beach! And what an opportunity to be motivated to explore the planet through study and/or performances abroad and national service-learning opportunities. Meeting professors and classmates from across the globe and nation can spark curiosity about faraway people, customs, food, and places.
A member of our CSULB 49er Foundation Board who was born in China and moved here as a very young child shared an inspiring observation with me. She had the opportunity to visit her ancestral home recently and compared her (self-described) comfortable status as a Chinese-American in the United States to Chinese norms. She said that if an American immigrated to China, he or she would never be considered an “American-Chinese.” Our board member went on to say that even after “five generations (such a person) would still be seen as an outsider … This ability to become an American is the greatest strength of the U.S.” (Of course, we all know that the history of immigration in the United States has not been a cakewalk by any means for any group.)
I’ve reflected on her words for the past week and am pleased, first, that her identification with her adopted nation is so strong and reciprocal and, second, that our Beach community has the clear chance to be the place that takes advantage of this “greatest strength.”
We can celebrate cultural and personal uniqueness while building a shared commitment to the community that is Long Beach State University. We can offer a warm welcome to human variations while being purposeful in finding that we are all more alike than different.
Respectful curiosity about different beliefs, lifestyles, cultures, customs, and experiences provides a path toward achieving the ideal of a pluralistic and peaceful community. Energetic debate about national and global political situations can enrich us all by allowing us to enter the world of another. When such discussions become hostile or threatening, however, we create “the other,” which is never desirable in a multicultural world. Whatever the issue, hate speech is not free speech.
If we take the opportunity to really get to know one another at The Beach, we are well on our way to achieving the status of global citizens. It’s a complicated world out there, threatened by ideologies that forbid reasoned analyses and alternate interpretations. Further, information from powerful interests who benefit from conflict requires constant vetting to ensure that we’re not manipulated by propaganda.
Let’s keep talking about making our diversity one of our strongest assets. Let’s stay vigilant about protecting our community from ideological confrontations that generate divisiveness rather than enlightening debate. We can be the democracy our forebears barely imagined. Go Beach!
