>> In which “third world” country have you experienced this?

> Bangladesh. My uncle fought a war to gain independence from Pakistan and establish a homeland for our ethnic group.

I appreciate that, as a family history you carry. I'm curious, how do you feel about it in the context of your arguments made here? Do you think ethnic groups should fight for survival and a safe harbor (homeland)? (Rereading your prior answer, it sounds like a definitive "no")

Do you think there is value in maintaining a living culture outside of the homeland?

Do you recognize any potential loss to individuals when their family's culture or ethnicity is erased?

>> How does ethnic identity threaten a mixed person?

> Because ethnic identity is maladaptive in individualist American society.

How so? Would you consider all group identities maladaptive?

> I'm curious, how do you feel about it in the context of your arguments made here? Do you think ethnic groups should fight for survival and a safe harbor (homeland)? (Rereading your prior answer, it sounds like a definitive "no")

If an ethnic group can realistically achieve self determination, that is the best course. Bangladesh's independence came at a terrible human cost, especially to the Hindus that were purged from the country during and after independence. But the result is a country that, for all its myriad other problems, doesn't suffer from significant sectarian or ethnic conflict.

If that's not realistic--and in the U.S. it isn't--then the best course is aggressive assimilation. In China, for example, 90% of the population is considered "Han Chinese," even though in reality that designation papers over a tremendous amount of underlying diversity.