Submitted by H. Tuttle, Mar 4, 2008 11:28

As a native New Yorker and, until recently, life long resident of Queens, I did live on a very "diverse" block in what is commonly proclaimed to be the most "diverse" boro in the most diverse city in the country. Ultimately, however, my family and I had our fill and have relocated, surprise, to an area of Connecticut that is more reflective of our background, religious affiliation and cultures.

In Richmond Hill, Queens where we lived, our small block of 18 houses was about as diverse as you can get - several latino families, a family from Guyana, an Indian family, two Pakistani families, several families with roots in Europe, including my own, Cubans, and the most recent arrivals, arab muslims whose women wore the hijab. In this melange we finally decided we shared little in common in terms of values, world view, behavior and orientation with most of our neighbors, and diversity for diversity's sake is a mantra that only leads to a breakdown of social cohesiveness. We need to have things in common with our neighbors - whether language, values or simply an understanding of how and what days to put garbage out on the curb. Until recently this was commonly understood to be indisputable truth until the "diversity" brigade established a beachhead and its control on discussions in the area.

Ultimately, anyone I've ever spoken with who "celebrates" diversity, when pressed, as your article highlights, lives in an area that is not diverse at all, leading to the conclusion that diversity is an abstraction for those on the left who fail to recognize that areas of the world where "diversity" reaches a certain level are hardly models of stability and social cohensiveness.

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