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"Don’t give cherries to pigs, nor advice to fools." - Irish Proverb

The New Mainstream

It would be interesting to see if we could find a center in the United States or Canada today that is serving only children of only one ethnic or cultural background. While population diversity is exploding in certain parts of North America, it can be noticed, to some extent, everywhere. In his new book, The New Mainstream: How the Multicultural Consumer Is Transforming American Business (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004), Guy Garcia writes about the impact of current demographic trends. Near the end of this insightful work, he observes...

"The New Mainstream is America. The myth of "America = white" is slowly but surely being debunked by scientific, demographic, and economic forces that cannot be turned back or ignored. What will rise in its place is a rejuvenated, postethnic definition of America in which race and ethnicity are simply ingredients in the complex alloy of American identity.

"The multicultural economy is the American economy, because the economics of diversity affect every American and every industry....

"The mulicultural economy is the global economy because market trends in the United States drive -- and are in turn determined by -- market trends throughout the world. America is a global society because its media shapes the dreams of millions and because the issues and opportunities of the domestic ethnic market are a microcosm of America's relationship with the rest of the world.

"The multicultural identity is the American identity, because no single culture or nationality owns the right to define a nation that is so diverse and dynamic and incomplete. The issues and conflicts that divide us also unite us, because they are the problems and issues of all Americans. Exclusion is by its very nature anti-American, just as separatism is inherently self-defeating...."

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