Our diversity is our glue

I was reading Mr. Bob Strong’s letter to the Spokane paper (“Unity versus diversity,” Sept. 9, 2018) recently and I was trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a monoculturalistic society. Mr. Strong is right, that in 1776, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, did attempt to unify the American Indians and green immigrants, living in the 13 colonies, at the time.

The only people with power and influence and the right to vote at that congress were new immigrants, who fled across the Atlantic Ocean a generation or two before due to religious and civil persecution, who were Caucasian, white male property-owners, most of whom considered racial minorities property or sub-human, owned slaves and treated women as second-class citizens, with no voice or right to vote or own property.

I am a true believer in the importance and intrinsic value of all people’s heritage, customs and culture, including Mr. Strong’s.

I was taught by my parents and elders to respect and cherish my Sinaikst (Arrow Lakes Band of Indians) ways and my northern European roots – i.e., Danish and Scotch-Irish traditions. I have attended many of Spokane’s Unity in the Community gatherings, celebrating multiculturalism, and definitely, it is our unique and rich diversity of many peoples, especially the elderly and infant, indigenous and newly arrived, that are the spiritual and cosmic glue that binds us together, for a better community.

James Perkins

Colville