Regarding the letter “The case against diversity” in your September 15 edition of the Gazette, the best that can be said of its content is it’s outrageous and inflammatory to the extreme. With every word the writer displays his wanton ignorance of the reality of world history and affairs. Although tribalism has played a crucial role in the development of nations in Africa, many of the issues cited can be directly attributed to the centuries worth of arbitrary, cruel and oppressive colonial policies visited upon the peoples of Africa and India. Incidentally, tribalism is also playing a crucial and destructive role right now in our country.

It’s obvious the purported argument of the letter is that diversity is the cause of all the troubles listed. Ridiculous. It’s also obvious the writer is attempting, rather lamely, to warn us that diversity will do the same for our country. Exactly the opposite is true. Despite the turmoil and tragedy of our history, the traditions, values and spirituality of the many peoples who call America home have only strengthened are nation. Everyone is from somewhere else. The blending of that diversity has formed us into the world’s benchmark for freedom and justice.

In very important ways diversity comes down to history both ours and the world’s and how we use it to inform and instruct. There are those among us who would actively hide or pervert that history. They choose to ignore both fact and studied analysis of who we are and how we came to be, all to further their stilted and privileged world view. George Santayana and Mark Twain both had it right. We ignore real history at our peril. And if the present situation is not quite the same as the past, it still rhymes.

Kenji Farinelli Colorado Springs