There Goes the Neighborhood by Ali Noorani

Author:Ali Noorani
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781633883086
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2017-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

MORE-ENCOMPASSING IDENTITIES

Progressive activists and pundits often claim that demographic change makes policy change inevitable. The assumption is that the size of minority communities will create congressional districts more representative of the nation's ethnic and racial diversity. As a result (so the thinking goes), members of Congress will represent electorates that support immigrants and immigration reform.

This “wait them out” strategy is as appealing as it is short-sighted. It assumes that over the next few decades, immigration-enforcement programs will be curtailed and states will move forward with their own constructive approaches. But in the meantime, immigrants are left in the lurch; they are detained and deported by a federal enforcement system too well-funded and entrenched to shut down, and there are relatively few states with legislative bodies politically prepared to pass pro-immigrant measures. As a result, the millions of immigrants living in politically moderate or conservative states would be forced further and further to the margins. On the other hand, all the immigrants in the country can just move to California. Or maybe not.

Waiting for demographic majorities also ignores culturally isolated white Americans legitimately struggling with these changes. They would be left to their own devices to understand this new landscape. In the best case, they would gravitate toward the thoughtful conservative leaders they trust and seek a path forward based on a common set of values. (Like we saw in Utah or South Carolina.) In the worst case, they are drawn to extremists, racists, and “Alt-Right–ists,” who fill this vacuum with their stream of nationalist, anti-immigrant venom. If the 2016 electoral race and the reality of President Donald Trump proves anything, it is that these dark forces are alive and well.

Best known for his seminal work, Bowling Alone, a deep dive into the decline of American engagement in civic life, Robert Putnam has bridged the world of academic researcher and policy wonk.45 Putnam released a new study in 2007, E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-First Century, that caused waves among press, policymakers, and advocates. Based on an exhaustive survey of roughly thirty thousand individuals in 2000, Putnam's research surfaced the challenges communities face when their populations diversify.46 He found that in the short to medium run, immigration and ethnic diversity challenged social solidarity and inhibited social capital. Or, as communities became more diverse, relationships between new neighbors were difficult to establish because they did not share the same experiences or history. But as time passed and integration took place, “successful immigrant societies create new forms of social solidarity and dampen the negative effects of diversity by constructing new, more encompassing identities.”47 A shorter version: diversity is hard. It requires people from different backgrounds to get to know each other and, over time, develop a collective identity that includes a little from everyone involved.

Putnam's findings cut against the progressive belief that diversity is automatically a net benefit to society. As I told the Boston Globe in 2007, “We can't ignore the findings. The big question we have to ask

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