Speaker promotes diversity

By Vivian Yun, contributing writer
Posted on October 25, 2007

Professor Joseph Stewart of Clemson University spoke on racial and ethnic diversity in American politics to a full crowd on Monday night.

Stewart’s topic of discussion was “Can We all Get Along? The Impact of Increasing Racial/Ethnic Diversity on American Politics.” Stewart outlined minority groups and what diversity meant in terms of politics in the future.

Stewart emphasized three main points in his presentation.  First, he mentioned that the increasing diversity in the 2000 census showed an impact in politics, which is tied to immigration. Secondly, he said that if minorities are not active in politics, they can become targets rather than actors in the political system. Lastly, Stewart stressed the strategic questions to be asked as diversity is increasing— should minorities join the majority or team up to go against the grain?

Stewart said that in the 2000 census blacks were not the largest racial minority group. 

While they represented just over 12 percent of the population, Hispanics comprised 15 percent of the population in the country.

“The population diversity grew much more rapidly than anticipated,” Stewart said.

Stewart said that he hoped students would learn that most people overestimate the proportion of the population belonging to different minority groups, think about how groups are going to resolve differences as the U.S. builds an effective political system.

Stewart thought of this presentation as a chance to meet the JMU community.

“It is always fun because I’ve learned something,” he said, “I’ve never been to JMU, and it’s a chance to interact with a variety of other people and learn about their perspective.”

Most students seemed to enjoy the presentation.

“I thought he did really well and it’s pertinent,” junior Lauren Hafer said.  “It’s good to get to see his perspective and hear that immigration is a good thing, too. The statistics were very interesting and the media doesn’t necessarily address that.”

Senior Marie Spiece agreed.

“I thought it was nice to hear someone address the issue of immigration as not meaning illegal and it’s especially relevant to the Harrisonburg community,” she said.

However, some students were not satisfied with his presentation.

“I was kind of confused when he jumped from facts back and forth,” sophomore Katie Byrd said.  “It would have been better if he had something to show us like a PowerPoint, but it was quite interesting how Hispanics take over the black population.”

Steward ended his presentation by making a prediction.

“For this political campaign, there is a division in the representation of how immigration ought to be played,” he said, “Looking at a recent survey, the majority is not concerned of immigration. They are against illegal immigration but support to legitimize and allow legal immigration.”