Richard Rodriguez

Marc Cooper discusses Richard Rodriguez, the celebrated Mexican American writer who is currently the object of a boycott and protests by graduating students at Cal State East Bay. The students, led by their authoritarian-minded tutors, are up in arms because

Rodriguez has written in opposition to bi-lingual education and has questioned the rationale for university affirmative action programs. He does this neither as a zealot, nor as political activist, but rather as an intellectual who grew up tough, made it to Stanford, and genuinely wants the best for others like him. Maybe he's right. Maybe he's wrong. He's certainly willing to talk about it.

From an interview with Rodriguez:

We're looking at complexity. We're looking at blond kids in Beverley Hills who can speak Spanish because they have been raised by Guatemalan nannies. We're looking at Evangelicals coming up from Latin America to convert the U.S. at the same time that LA movie stars are taking up Indian pantheism. We're looking at such enormous complexity and variety that it makes a mockery of "celebrating diversity." In the LA of the future, no one will need to say, "Let's celebrate diversity." Diversity is going to be a fundamental part of our lives.