While it pains me to have to write a response to justify Youth for Western Civilization’s beliefs against numerous false accusations that could be cleared by basic levels of reading and understanding, I think now is an appropriate occasion to do so, as the claims have gotten rather out of hand.
Some of the misunderstandings are based on false facts (we have 13 very active members, not two or three, and Marcus Epstein is not a founder of the group), but most of it seems related to our opposition to radical multiculturalism.
First of all, multicultural is not the same thing as multiracial. We don’t care if you are red, yellow, black or white, if you love the West and appreciate the culture America as we know it was founded on (not the Native Indian one), you are a friend of ours. One of our 13 current members is racially Arabic, yet embraces America since she was born here.
If anything, we are far more inclusive than race-based groups like African Students Union, National Society of Black Engineers, the Black Cultural Center, “historically” Black and Latino fraternities, much less the Vanderbilt administration with its racial preference system euphemistically referred to as “affirmative action,” which denies qualified students entry based on the color of their skin. We see these groups as divisive. They seek to balkanize the campus; we seek to unite it behind the civilization that provided most everything we cherish (democracy, human rights, the notion of higher education, the majority of our curriculum, etc.).
As far as illegal immigration goes, our views are basic: Enforce the current laws we have, don’t reinforce the behavior of those who broke our nation’s laws and focus on the assimilation into society of those already legally here.
When we speak against radical multiculturalism and illegal immigration, we are truly speaking against radical people who want to displace this country’s dominant culture and heritage. For instance, Juan Hernandez, John McCain’s “Hispanic Outreach Director” said, “I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think ‘Mexico first.’” This is radical. Mario Obledo, founder of Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said “California is going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn’t like it should leave. Every constitutional office in California is going to be held by Hispanics in the next 20 years.” People who don’t like such demographic changes “should go back to Europe.” Again, radical.
Laura Garcia, in her recent Hustler opinion column, believes Bay Buchanan misrepresented the Founding Fathers by stating they were opposed to radical multiculturalism. I disagree, citing Alexander Hamilton as evidence: “The safety of a republic depends essentially on the energy of a common national sentiment; on a uniformity of principles and habits; on the exemption of the citizens from foreign bias and prejudice and on that love of country which will almost invariably be found to be closely connected with birth, education and family.”
“This nation is a nation of immigrants.” True, great, wonderful. However, it is a nation of immigrants who assimilated well because they believed in the need to do so. We are not claiming the current immigrants are incapable of assimilating; rather, we are opposing an ideology that promotes non-assimilation and teaches us to focus on our differences, rather than trying to unite behind “a common national sentiment” and a “uniformity of principles and habits.”
The sheer number of illegal immigrants coming in (close to 3 million annually), most of whom are uneducated and unskilled, poses a threat to our nation’s ability to assimilate these individuals. We have the most generous legal immigration policy of any country in the world: 1.2 million immigrants per year. We owe these legal immigrants the resources necessary to assimilate and, as such, cannot afford the burden of 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants who desire amnesty.
— Devin Saucier is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at devin.r.saucier@vanderbilt.edu
