Tolerance-themed diversity campaigns can exclude the very Americans they claim to include

Evidence

Weber critiques how the Ad Council’s PSA “organizes the U.S. national imaginary by disavowing many differences in the name of one national ideal of tolerance and censuring many differences in the name of one national idea of justice.” It not only forecloses a range of possible expressions of humanity but also, as demonstrated by Weber, forecloses the possibility of considering the experiences of unsafe Americans, whether those who are innocent and have been accused of terrorism, or those who are undocumented and treated as if guilty of terrorism, or those who conscientiously objected to serving in the Iraq War and became political refugees, or those who are human rights activists and have been arrested for assisting migrants to the hospital for heath care. Weber highlights the discrepancy between the ideal of diversity and tolerance expressed in the Ad Council’s PSA and the reality for some Americans who are unsafe and at risk of being criminalized. This version of diversity patriotism, while appealing to notions of inclusivity, ultimately limits who can be imagined as a legitimate American. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 1167

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the concept of ‘diversity patriotism’ as a limiting version of national identity.