I enjoy a good, tossed salad. There’s something about the mixture of the various ingredients and items that maintain their individual characteristics yet come together to make for a delicious nutritional combination. Such is the case for a healthy community. Cultural diversity can be a good thing where everyone can benefit from each other and grow in their understanding of worldviews and perspectives. God is obviously into diversity as He has seen fit to create it in a plethora of spaces throughout the universe from the micro to the macro in various lifeforms. Within that variety of humankind and individuality lies the consistency of the Imago Dei (image of God).

However, America has opted for the theory of a melting pot, where every culture is expected to blend into one, that of the homogenous culture, and if necessary, that by force. This does a tremendous disservice to any community and leaves us at an unhealthy disadvantage and prevents us from being fully functional as a society. Everyone has something of value to bring to the table. So, what sense does it make to deny the collective whole from those contributions?

When we seek conformity into one group we deny God’s gift of variations, which contributes to a greater view of His greatness manifest in His highest creation, human beings.

Fear embraces the need for likeness. When Africans were brought to the shores of the “new world” they were stripped of their culture, history, language, names, and traditions. In like manner, Native Americans had their children taken from them and forced into boarding schools where the “Indian” in them was purged and replaced with European names, culture, traditions, hairstyles, dress, and language. Those who refused to comply were punished and even killed, as confirmed by the recent discoveries of mass graves of children at some of these sites.

The Wounded Knee massacre on December 29, 1890, where nearly 300 Lakota men, women, and children were senselessly murdered by the 7^th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army, was a result of Native Americans practicing their cultural religious “Ghost Dance” in defiance of “the white man’s” domination and colonization. Interestingly enough, as Karma would have it, this is the same regiment that met its demise at the Battle at Little Bighorn under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. As the saying would resonate, “Custer paid for your sins.”     

Theodore Roosevelt stated in a speech delivered in New York in 1886, “I don’t go as far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe that nine out of every ten are. And I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”    

The “melting pot” approach inherently champions “white” culture as being superior to all others and seeks their conformity and acknowledgment of this narrative. The idea is if you don’t fit into our superior culture, get out, or be destroyed. It’s a very short-sighted perspective.        

What is it about people that makes them gravitate toward those who look like, think like, and speak like they do? Is it not to our collective advantage to expose ourselves to uniqueness and diversity? Yet America has historically attempted to snuff that out like a useless cigarette that has been smoked down to the butt.  It’s as if America has sought its very own cultural version of a nation of Stepford wives.  

Therefore, it becomes imperative that these cultures continue to fight to maintain their identities. What a shame it would be if everyone showed up for a potluck dinner with the same plate of food.   

Yet there has always been a minority population within these groups, which have willingly conformed for a few extra crumbs from the master’s table, selling out their fellow man. The irony is that they are never fully accepted as a fully-fledged member of the homogenous group. Instead, they are used as a tool to control and convince their group to conform or suffer the consequences. Malcolm referred to this psychosis as a “house slave” mentality, where the enslaved identifies more with his/her master than he/she does with their own people who are also enslaved.  In modern-day terminology, we might refer to it as Stockholm Syndrome.

This divide-and-conquer tactic creates distrust within the group and can lead to infighting.  Many attempted slave revolts were foiled by a House slave Judas mentality for a mere “30 pieces of silver.”   

Not much has changed over the decades. How often do we hear things like, “When in America you need to speak English.” Often stated by some “Kevin” or “Karen” who isn’t even involved in the conversation but feels emboldened to exercise their perceived authority to butt in and demand conformity. It’s the image of the ugly American. It’s the ugly American who exercises low tolerance for anyone deemed “other,” a non-conformist in thought, deed, or behavior, in language, dress, hairstyle, or appearance.

It’s what leads to “code-switching” and parents naming their children by European names regardless of ethnicity. It’s why natural hairstyles are rejected for more “acceptable” hairstyles to enter the workforce. It’s the known subtleties that we pass along to our children as reality checks regarding what it takes to move ahead. It’s knowing when to speak and when to keep your mouth shut when to express your own thoughts or to mirror those of the ones you want to impress to get those crumbs from the table. They’ve just increased in size these days.

Revelation 7:9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

Yes, I think it’s safe to say that God prefers a good tossed salad over a melting pot.