Community debates American identity
Panelists, audience engage in heated dialogue on
multiculturalism
By Nancy Hsu
and Lucia Sanchez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Members of the campus community engaged in a lively dialogue at
a town hall meeting Wednesday night about their identities and
relationships in a multicultural, multiracial society.
Close to 300 people gathered in Moore Hall to participate in
discussing the American identity.
The town hall meeting was intended as an open exchange of ideas
on issues of identity, ethnicity, culture and class in the campus
environment, said Matea Gold, editor-in-chief of the Daily Bruin,
which sponsored the event.
Six panelists from the Los Angeles area opened discussions with
ideas of what the American identity is and how it has changed over
the years. They also spoke of the injustices inflicted upon
minorities in the past as well as current debates over affirmative
action policies.
"Today, the American identity is in flux," said panelist Miya
Iwataki, manager of the Office of Community Relations at L.A.
County Health Services Administration where she is the Asian
Pacific Islander liaison. "Minorities are becoming majorities.
Change is frightening — and it’s in your face."
At times, the event became a heated debate with finger-pointing
and accusations flung by the audience and panelists.
Panelist David Horowitz, the president of the Center for the
Study of Popular Culture, known for his right-wing political views,
was repeatedly chastized by the audience and other panelists.
Tempers flared when Horowitz told the audience to focus on more
positive aspects of the U.S., pointing to the Constitution as the
guarantee of rights.
"Compared to other countries, this is paradise," Horowitz said.
"We have a problem with people streaming across the borders. Other
countries have to lock their doors."
Many students took offense at Horowitz’s views of the
Constitution, citing rights that had to be fought for, such as
Emancipation, women’s suffrage and the desegregation of the
South.
One student accused him of reconciling those injustices with
token acts.
"Just because we’ve made some symbolic gestures at some point,
is that an excuse for saying we’ve accomplished what we’re trying
to accomplish, trying to relate to each other as human beings?"
asked Jeremiah Wintringer, a philosophy/pre-med student. "Just
because we’ve made so much progress, does this make (the United
States) paradise?"
University affirmative action policies, which Horowitz called
"destructive," became one of the leading issues of the debate.
Horowitz criticized the policy and administrators for doing a
disservice to students.
A UCLA administrator defended campus policies.
"For myself and for my collegues, I want to say that we abhor
racism and that we are working to address the problems created by
racism in our society,"said Carol Hartzog, vice- provost of the
College of Letters & Science. "We have created certain
admissions policies and practices which we are carrying out to the
best of our abilities."
In response to Horowitz’s assertion that affirmation action
leaves room for questions about minority professionals’
credentials, panelist Richard Yarborough said, "Credentials of
black professors have been criticized centuries before affirmative
action."
Most members of the audience said they felt the town hall
meeting was a good first step in fostering discussion. Yarborough,
a UCLA English professor and research associate in the Center for
Afro-American Studies, said he hoped there would be more meetings
in the future.
"The response was a real testament to the need for more
discussions like this, and I hope this is only a starting point on
this issue," Gold said.
Other panelists included J. Craig Fong, the regional director of
the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., the nation’s
largest and oldest gay and lesbian civil rights organization;
Sondra Hale, UCLA anthropology and women’s studies professor; and
Hae Won Park, Cal State Northridge lecturer on Asian American
issues.