Dear Editor,
I would like to be the first to thank you for publishing the article "Western Civilization is the Best Ever" by Michael S. Berliner. Living here in the Claremont area, especially Pomona College is like living in a bubble. Most of the people who attend this college are fairly intelligent and share many of the same politically correct views on the "discovery" of America. Most of the student body would agree with the fact that Columbus did not "discover" America and that the result of Columbus' "discovery" of America was not beneficial to the indigenous people of the America. The publishing of this article reminds the sheltered mass of the Claremont Colleges that ignorance is still prevalent in this society and that many people do not have a clear understanding of the past accomplishments and the price paid by those who were not lucky enough to be in the so-called "intellectual majority" or of the "dominant race."
There are many points made by Mr. Berliner that are extremely ignorant and have no intellectual merit whatsoever. The first point is "the main legacy of Columbus is death and destruction", the fact is without the introduction of Western Europe to America there would not have been any need for the extensive slave trade that took the lives of thousands and thousands of African. If the "discovery" of America had not occurred until after 1807, the year in which slavery was abolished by Great Britain, the slave trade would have never lasted that long or would have never existed in the country at all. The need for cheap/slave labor and the indigenous people's inability to fight of European disease was the only things that helped to extend the longevity of the slave trade. The slave trade did exist in Western Europe before existed in America but the only difference is the distance in which the slaves were forced to travel. Many of the lives lost in the slave trade came during the voyage from West Africa to the America.
Another idea communicated by Mr. Berliner was that the U.S. "was sparsely inhabited, unused, and undeveloped…life was nasty, brutish…no division of labor, little agriculture…endless bloody wars" and the greatest misrepresentation of reality that I have ever heard in my life, "…Western culture also brought enormous, undreamed-of benefits without which most of today's Indians would be infinitely poorer or not even alive." First things first, the fact is that much of what existed of the indigenous population was eradicated by the disease and the greed of the European settlers with an unquenchable thirst that would stop at nothing almost committing genocide for more and more land/resources. Who are you to judge the way of life in which the indigenous people of America lived? Who were your ancestors who raped, pillaged, and conquered the indigenous people of this land to just exploit the natural resources? The indigenous people of America lived at harmony with their surroundings. They only took what they needed to survive and used all of what they took. The best example of this the buffalo, the indigenous people of this land used not only the meat of the buffalo but used the hid to clothe themselves. Upon reaching the great plains of the Midwest the European settlers almost drove the buffalo to near extinction. There was also a division of labor, in which, each member of a particular tribe would contribute to livelihood of the tribe. The males of the tribe would do the majority of the hunting, while the females would clean the kill, gather supplies and foliage, and grew crops such as maize (corn). The people of this land fought wars just like every other society that has inhabited this world but their wars were not wars of conquest or to see who could posses the most land. No, their wars were for the sole reason of feeding their families and they showed no malice or disgust for their enemies because they realized their enemies fought for the same reason.
Finally I would like to address the idea that Mr. Berliner believes that multicultural education only creates more racism. Multicultural education gives people of different cultural backgrounds an understanding of culture in which they did not originate or were not taught about prior to any formal education. Multicultural education is not the cause of racism but instead the cure because before studying a culture in-depth some of the customs unique to a particular culture can be misconstrued or viewed as not having any logical explanation. When you start to understand why a person from a different culture does something in a unique manner you begin to see that person not as strange or different but as a person acting in accordance to his/her cultural norms. Then that person can be viewed as what he/she is a human being not an African, Asian, European, etc. Just a person from a different culture and that is all.
The allowance of a person to be an individual is what makes that country great but to claim that it is the best ever and ignore the injustice this country was built upon is absurd. I would hope that Mr. Michael Berliner would take the time to take a course or two at an institute of higher learning and view this country from the multitude of cultural viewpoints on which it was built on and which it strives to include.
Jason Howie '03
