Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007 - (Page 44)

Opinion STRENGTH FROM DIVERSITY Kennedy’s promise remains unfulﬁlled by Kevin Lowther and C. Payne Lucas hen Warren W. Wiggins passed in April, at age 84, we lost the man who did more than anyone else–including R. Sargent Shriver–to enshrine the relevance of the Peace Corps in the world at large. e world in early 1961 was a very diﬀerent place. Its divide was essentially ideological–between the Communist Bloc and the West. Decolonization was metastasizing throughout Africa and Asia. And the Strangelovean threat of nuclear Armageddon was all too credible. is was the context in which President John F. Kennedy–tentatively and against the advice of seasoned diplomats–launched the Peace Corps. It was in this context that Wiggins–then a mid-level oﬃcial in the International Cooperation Administration–wrote “ e Towering Task.” is legendary call to peace convinced Shriver that his ﬂedgling initiative must be big and bold. Peace Corps would not be a tentative pilot; it would become a deﬁning mission of the Kennedy Administration. e task today is no less towering, but we no longer live in the black-andwhite world in which President Kennedy summoned Peace Corps to promote Western values against Communism. is dangerous and conﬂicted world came ﬂying–literally–into our lives on September 11, 2001. e world needs the Peace Corps now more urgently than it did in the depths of the Cold War. However, if the Peace Corps is to make a real diﬀerence in a world riven by religious and ethnic enmities, and among people who are more acutely aware of what they have-not, it must re-invent itself. e idea that diverse peoples, given 44 Fall 2007 W T the opportunity to know one another, can transcend their diﬀerences is compelling. is idea, above all others, makes the Peace Corps relevant in this age. But the Peace Corps will have to take advantage of an under-appreciated national asset–the diversity of American society–and recreate itself in the image of that diversity. One might expect the Peace Corps– not the armed services–to be our most integrated government institution. In spite of Peace Corps’ occasional eﬀorts to attract minorities, its ranks remain a pale rendition of the American rainbow. is undermines the Peace Corps mission, abroad and at home. A thoroughly “diversiﬁed” Peace Corps will introduce more Americans to one another, across their racial and cultural identities, and help counter the self-segregation which prevents us from developing inter-ethnic relationships outside the workplace. A more diverse Peace Corps also will send a strong message to ird World peoples who must themselves overcome deep divisions. According to the Peace Corps’ own data, only 16 percent of current volunteers describe themselves as African-, Hispanic-, Asian-, Arab-, or Native American. To reﬂect the national demographic, that percentage would have to more than double. If many American colleges and the military can do this, so can Peace Corps. ypically, however, proposals to improve the Peace Corps have focused largely on increasing its size, not on ensuring that all volunteers have a real job, one that begs doing and the skills to perform it. at was President Kennedy’s promise both to volunteers and hosts. According to staﬀ and volunteers we have spoken to over the years, the promise too often is unmet. Warren Wiggins later conceded to us that the decision to mount a large Peace Corps was counterproductive. e “numbers game,” as it was called within the agency in the 1960s, took on a life of its own and overwhelmed its ability to recruit and train enough capable volunteers, and to develop and manage programs that utilized them eﬀectively. e towering task today is to commit the Peace Corps to qualitative changes which will make it more representative of a “browning” (and graying) America, more eﬀective in the work it does and–perhaps most important–a leader in demonstrating in the world how to draw strength from diversity. e Peace Corps has tried often and sincerely to attract more minority volunteers. To do this eﬀectively, however, will require a creative, wellendowed and sustained eﬀort. Periodic campaigns will not make Peace Corps service a known and viable option for Americans of color. Nothing short of a Congressional mandate–with the funding to back it–is likely to transform the Peace Corps into a truly American institution, one with deep roots within all of our ethnic constituencies. A Peace Corps which truly reﬂects our 21st-century demographic will mean little, however, unless the volunteers we send abroad are equipped to serve a legitimate role in the host society. Such a Peace Corps could be smaller or larger than today’s version. What is critical is that it is valued and respected–even among those who may doubt that America has anything of value still to oﬀer our world. America is our world, in all its diversity. e Peace Corps can be nothing less. Kevin Lowther served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Sierra Leone from 1963 to 1965 and in several staﬀ positions in Washington. C. Payne Lucas spent 10 years on staﬀ in the 1960s. He is the retired co-founder of Africare, from which Lowther also is retiring in June. In 1978, they published Keeping Kennedy’s Promise, a critique of the Peace Corps’ formative ﬁrst decade. is article is based on the introduction to the 2002 paperback version of the book, which is available at klowther@cox.net.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

Worldview - Fall 2007 Contents Presiden'ts Note Lafayette Park Introduction Interview Commentary Editor's Note Letter from Rumbek, Sudan Listings Letter from Yekaterinburg, Russia Letter from Codaesti, Romania Letter from Catia La Mar, Venezuela Letter from Gumare, Botswana Letter from Ridder, Kazakhstan Letter from Rincon, Cape Verde Letter from Port Au Prince Another Country Community News Giving Back Opinion

Worldview Magazine - Fall 2007

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