While you weren't watching, Barack Obama's State Department has changed us from a melting pot into a Canadian-style multicultural society. Apparently some time around April 1 of this year, the section "A Patchwork Culture" was added to america dot gov at america.gov/identity.html

America.gov is what might be called our "tourist/chamber of commerce brochure to the world" from the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs. While some of this has to be taken with the same grain of salt as one would any similar brochure (like one Houston put out a few years ago), it also indicates that the Obama administration doesn't really see the U.S. as millions of Americans do but sees us more on the road to a Canadian, corporate pluralism system.

Your assignment is to take one or more of the pages at the site apart and explain to others exactly why this is the wrong approach, putting it into the historical context and also exploring the political power aspects, such as attempts to divide people into small groups in order to better use them to maintain power. Make sure and take screengrabs and save the full text of each page in case they go missing. As a start, note the weasely attempt to thread the "are Indians immigrants?" debate from one of the screens. Also, comparing our brochure to those from Canada and other countries would be helpful.

Here's the text from the various introductory screens:

Most scholars, writers, politicians and others agree that with the possible exception of the American Indian, to be American is to be, genealogically speaking, from somewhere else in the world. America.gov explores how choosing individual identity is an ever-shifting process...

Identity in America: Are Perspectives Shifting?

Multicultural, post-ethnic, post-racial. While these descriptors are debated, most agree that with the possible exception of the American Indian, to be American is to be, genealogically speaking, from somewhere else. During February, America.gov is exploring how the ever-increasing diversity of the U.S. population is affecting the way Americans view themselves.

Are We So Different?

Is race real or a recent human invention? Is it about biology or culture? These questions are addressed by RACE: Are We So Different?, a traveling exhibit and related Web site on the history of the idea of race, the science of human variation, and the experience of living with race and racism.

Blogging Identity

Satirical blogs such as Stuff White People Like and more analytical Web sites like That Minority Thing are shaping the way people talk about race, view the role of race in their culture, and communicate about their identities. The participatory nature of blogs has changed the Internet, one author says.

Growing up Multicultural

Crystal Grace Ofori is proud to be a Ghanaian American, but it wasn’t always that way. Iranian-American Gelareh Asayesh faced these same challenges.

Rebecca Walker carves unique identity

After her parents divorced, author Rebecca Walker grew up alternating between white Jewish and nonwhite mixed-race cultures. While the ongoing process of shifting identities was difficult, Walker explains in an interview with America.gov how the multicultural experience developed a multifaceted person.