Gerst gets it wrong, not Coke

As a mixed-race American, I was disgusted by Cameron Gerst’s column from Feb. 7, “Coke gets it wrong.” I won’t deny his right to his own opinion on the merits or drawbacks of this country’s diversity, but in misrepresenting its importance to our nation’s development, his column displayed a poor understanding of America’s history and present-day identity.

Although I missed Coke’s ad when it originally aired, I took a minute to watch it after reading Gerst’s column.

Was the ad a cynical attempt to gain market share by exploiting the heritage of potential customers? It sure looked that way.

Did it misrepresent this country or the people who live here? Not in the least.
To suggest that those Americans whose first language isn’t English — or, good heavens, those of us who don’t speak it at all — somehow don’t belong here, at least not in the way that Anglo-Americans do, betrays a mindset that our society should have outgrown decades ago.

Gerst’s use of the “melting pot” metaphor partly explains his confusion. Despite his claim that “National identity hinges on unity ... on common culture,” cultural unity is the exception, not the rule, among the countries of the world, as Mikesell points out in “The Myth of the Nation-State” (1983).

I don’t mean to make light of historical assimilation efforts or the resulting injustices, especially against the American Indians, but ultimately those efforts failed, and our country is the richer for it.

It’s certainly true that most countries have not yet resolved the tensions between their peoples. It seems likely that such tensions tie up political and social resources that could be better directed elsewhere.  

But to argue that minority groups must either assimilate or suffer exclusion in the supposed interest of the majority is thoughtless at best.

Let me be clear — there is nowhere on Earth that welcomes people of all backgrounds and allows them to be themselves to the extent that America does, and until recently none of our neighbors even came close. Our country’s success and unique identity owe more to this fact than to any other.

­— Tyler Kerr