First,
what is multiculturalism? It is a term I only find used in academia
where it means the cluster of specialized departments of women's or
gender studies, African, Latino or ethnic studies and occasionally
Middle Eastern Studies. Multiculturalism never includes cultures that are considered 'high culture' by Euro-centric academics and Lefty students; cultures such as China, India, Tibet or Japan.
Second, where did multiculturalism
emerge? It emerged in the mid-1960s when the Black Power and Women's
Liberation movements were arriving on the scene. I saw it first hand
in San Francisco as it developed over a decade. By 1970 the debate had
moved into every academic department as the search to expose
imperialism, racism and oppression was extended into every academic
niche. The overall issue was debated as the 'battle of the core
curriculum', with all white male writers over the past 3,000 years cast as
potential villains.
Third, where did it come from?
Multiculturalism is the fascinating synthesis of a deeply American
premise with a totally alien idea. The American idea is the immigrant
melting pot. The belief that America is an open society where hard
working industrious people, regardless of their 'background or country
of origin,' have the opportunity to succeed. America is premised on our belief in the triumph of merit. Other societies would not welcome multiculturalism because they don't want to be a melting pot.
The alien idea that has been combined with merit is the concept of the proletariat. The proletariat was a Marxist notion of a large class of people who we would call 'blue collar'; potential union members. The proletariat was to emerge as the source of power and popular will in the communist world.
By the time the multiculturalist synthesis was emerging in the 1960s it was clear from a century of Marxist observation and anticipation, that the proletariat didn't exist. Insofar as labor unions existed in the United States they were weak, they were not growing and they never would. Therefore the Left searched and found in the newly evident Black Power and Women's Liberation movements the 'new version of the proletariat'....the new righteous source of power and popular will that was unfairly oppressed by the 'capitalist' class.
The American
value of merit, was turned on its head and we got 'identity politics':
blacks and women believing they were oppressed, the victims of
patriarchy, racism, imperialism and white class villainy.
The nonsense of multiculturalism as oppressed identity politics, has survived to this day, right where it was first generated...in the hallowed ivy covered fantasy world of academia, the enduring home of rigid Marxist ideology.
There is an interesting and thorough cover article in The Weekly Standard (11/12/2007, Volume 013, Issue 09) by Charlotte Allen on the death of Antioch College at the hands of multiculturalist identity politics. After a boom period where the idea of multiculturalism was first gaining influence in the curriculum in the late 1970s, the College saw a long and unremitting slide into death, as students and faculty found the moral imperatives of multiculturalism were alien to American life. Students stayed away from Antioch, fewer came each year, avoiding four years in the cesspool of multiculturalism.