I have loved Paul Simon’s lyrics and music almost all my life. I loved Simon & Garfunkel. And I loved Simon when he went on his own. I’ve had the good fortune to see him perform live many times. The time that was pure magic was when I saw him perform songs from his album Graceland which he performed with several South African musicians.
When talking about Graceland, Paul Simon once told Harper’s magazine this: “It’s my favorite record. My favorite song that I ever wrote. This is it. This is the best I ever did. This is all perfect.” And he’s right. Seeing it performed live was a rare treat indeed. The rhythm. The talent of the South African musicians coupled with Simon’s clever lyrics was both mesmerizing and amazing. And it’s even more amazing when you consider that Simon released this album during the controversial and turbulent apartheid crisis in South Africa.
The brilliance of that whole Graceland album is an example of what happens when cultures converge in a positive fashion and truly bring out the best in one another. Graceland won Grammys for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.
I’ve often thought that some of the most beautiful, most talented, and smartest people in the world are a result of multi-racial marriages. Black and White. Indian and Asian. Asian and White. Hispanic and Black. The list goes on. Think Halle Berry, Keanu Reeves, Alicia Keyes, Mariah Carey, Barack Obama, Zadie Smith, Tiger Woods, James McBride.
Then consider Asian fusion food which offers exciting and innovative flavor combinations by blending various Asian and global traditions, ingredients, and cooking techniques. It’s appealing because it creates new tasting profiles from spicy to sweet and savory.
Between undergraduate and graduate schools, I had roommates who were Black, White, Jewish, Gay, male, and female. It was the best experience ever. I learned to appreciate different cultures, foods, traditions, and more.
When I lived in La Paz, Bolivia for two years, I learned about the discrimination of various Indian groups and saw its aftermath. I also learned to appreciate Pisco sour cocktails and learned how to cook sultanas and chicharrón. In short, the experience broadened my horizons.
One of the many aspects I dislike about the current administration is its overtly racist mindset. Clearly Project 2025 implies that Whites are superior human beings, and the purity of the race must be protected. It’s not dissimilar to the Nazi eugenics focus. Immigration—even legal immigration—has become a dirty word to the MAGA base.
J.D. Vance wants Whites to have more children so that mixed races don’t take over America.
Haitians are eating our dogs and cats.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives which began to level the playing field are being dismantled.
Trump pardons White supremacists who organized an insurrection and attacked the Capitol on January 6. He calls them Patriots.
The U.S. National Park Service has begun scrubbing information from its exhibits about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
Trump accuses the Smithsonian of focusing too much on how bad slavery was and not enough on the “brightness” of America.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has spent a considerable amount of time scrubbing Defense Department websites of articles and images about Jackie Robinson and the Navajo Code Talkers; renaming Navy ships; leading a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon’s auditorium; organizing an effort to restore to West Point Military Academy a painting of Confederate General Robert E. Lee that shows him wearing his gray Confederate uniform and accompanied by a slave guiding his horse; restoring Confederate names of military bases; and reinstalling a racist Confederate memorial, at considerable expense, that had been removed from Arlington National Cemetery.
Unlike this current administration, I do not feel that a “White Bread World” is a superior world. Rather, I celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion and mourn initiatives that do just the opposite.
Maya Angelou once wrote: “In diversity there is beauty and there is strength. We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.”
Here, here!
Maria Grant was principal-in-charge of the federal human capital practice of an international consulting firm. While on the Eastern Shore, she focuses on writing, reading, music, and nature.
Wilson Dean says
What a beautiful article! Do the people in the MAGA movement really understand that attacking diversity and inclusion only celebrates racism and the exclusion of so many worthwhile people and ideas? If they don’t truly grasp this now, when will they? My real fear is that they do and that this is exactly what the MAGA movement is all about. If so, then I suggest the rest of us in this country read up on the history of Germany in the 1930s and South Africa during apartheid to see exactly where we are all headed. Then we’d better do something about it
Maria Grant says
Wilson, thanks for your comment. I could not agree more.
Nancy S. Larson says
Thank you Maya and Maria!!!! Wilson is correct.
Maria Grant says
Nancy, thanks for your comment. Much appreciated.
Mary Mahoney says
J.D.Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance whose parents immigrated to the USA from India. The Vance’s have three children of mixed race. How does that support a “White Bread World”?
Maria Grant says
Mary, you make a good point. My explanation for this change is that Vance has totally changed his stripes. In 2016, Vance called Trump “reprehensible” and called himself a “never Trumper.” Then he ran for senator in Ohio and became pro Trump. So in earlier days he was quite liberal and embraced more liberal policies. Today, he is a totally different animal. I see it as a guy who has no scruples and is self-serving in terms of his own political career.