Last week, the police department in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, unveiled a new “optional” patch for officers featuring the words “Dearborn Heights Police” in Arabic alongside English. Although the department quickly reversed course amid swift backlash, it was yet more evidence of the growing balkanization of the American public.
According to the city’s now-deleted Facebook post, the patch, which would have been the first of its kind in the United States, was designed to “reflect and honor the diversity of our community — especially the many residents of Arabic descent who call Dearborn Heights home.”
Mayor Bill Bazzi, an immigrant from Lebanon, insisted the design was merely “under internal discussion among some within the police department, which was not put forth for consensus or further review.” That’s political speak, which means that had resistance not been so strong, the patch would already be stitched onto uniforms.
This episode in Dearborn Heights is not an isolated controversy, but part of a larger national trend.
After decades of mass migration, the fabled promise of assimilation has collapsed. America’s vaunted “melting pot” has hardened into ethnic enclaves, and the country is rapidly headed toward a situation where communities feel more like miniaturized versions of various nations around the world rather than one cohesive society.
The evidence of this is everywhere. High school graduations are now conducted entirely in Spanish, while city governments fly Palestinian flags above their halls and residents wave Mexican flags in defiance of federal immigration enforcement.
Politicians like Minneapolis mayoral candidate Omar Fateh hold political rallies exclusively in Somali, while U.S. Representatives in Congress, like Ilhan Omar, Salud Carbajal, and Shri Thanedar, who are all foreign born, demonize ICE and advocate for open borders. Omar has notably bragged about using her position in Congress to advance the interests of Somalia over those of the United States.
Meanwhile, in Fort Bend County, Texas, a 90-foot statue of a Hindu deity now towers over the landscape; a striking symbol of how foreign cultures are no longer blending into America but carving out a dominant space of their own.
Also in the Lone Star State, deep-pocketed Islamic groups are working on plans to build EPIC City, a proposed Muslim-centered community designed to operate like a nation within a nation.
These developments are the tangible results of the left’s decades-long push for “multiculturalism,” which by default means a deep erosion of a shared American identity. But while liberals prattle on about how “diversity is our strength,” even the most ancient philosophers recognized the perils of failing to cultivate a common shared culture within a democracy.
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