A few years ago, Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam wrote a best-selling book entitled, "Bowling Alone." The thesis of the book was that the threads of community in the United States were fraying, that fewer people were involved in civic activities, that membership in fraternal associations was declining, and yes, fewer people were joining bowling leagues. Well, Putnam is at it again. After five years of research, and with not a little bit of hesitation, he has published an article showing that rates of civic participation are lowest precisely in communities with high levels of racial and ethnic diversity. The study is based on interviews with 30,000 people in 41 American cities ranging in size from big cities like Chicago to small ones like Yakima, Washington.

Anti-immigration forces have jumped on his findings as evidence of the ruinous effects of immigration on American society. Commenting on Putnam's book, Patrick Buchanan declares that diversity will lead to the nation's "destruction." Buchanan's analysis of Putnam's article has spread like wildfire on right wing web sites and even made it to ex-Klan Grand Wizard David Duke's web site. Even the Wall Street Journal has proclaimed the "death of diversity."

Putnam, on the other hand, has disassociated himself from these extreme views. Instead, he reminds us that diversity, although always problematic and challenging in the short-term, has provided huge benefits to American society in the long-term, and that the way to maintain those benefits, is "by redraw(ing) more inclusive lines of social identity." He cites example after example, from the evolution of the US Army into a color-blind institution to the recent growth of racially integrated, evangelical megachurches, of how Americans have widened circles of belonging while still retaining smaller ones. Putnam believes that immigration rates in the United States and elsewhere are likely to remain high and will produce impressive gains in creativity, economic growth and global development but only if we all feel part of something larger.

Putnam is not an old-fashioned Americanizer. He believes that people can navigate between smaller and larger communities, between ethno/cultural identities and a strong national identity. He cautions the right not to lose faith in the desirability and feasibility of immigrant incorporation. He cautions the left not to "deny the reality of the challenge to social solidarity posed by diversity." America's gift to the world, and perhaps its destiny as a nation, is to demonstrate that unity and diversity can co-exist.

For Putnam, diversity presents a challenge to policy makers at all levels of our society, but most especially at the local level. He writes that Americans "need more opportunities for meaningful interaction across ethnic lines where Americans (new and old) work, learn, recreate, and live." On Putnam's web site, he gives 150 ways that ordinary Americans can rebuild "social capital." In a state like New Jersey, the most densely populated in the nation and one of the most diverse, the challenge of diversity should be uppermost in the minds of our leaders. Our mayors, local officials, and state legislators, even those representing formerly homogeneous suburban communities, need to remember their responsibility to reach out to newcomers, to bridge ethnic and racial divides, and to look for creative ways to "build the new American community." If we start from the premise that certain ethnic groups are unassimilable, that the United States is a fixed European creation, that the past is better than the present or future, that "illegals" need to be driven out of our communities, then we will surely suffer the downside of diversity: bowling alone.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a Persian-style, high school graduation party. Our friends, Jewish emigres from Iran who fled the revolution in 1979, used their son's graduation as an opportunity to invite some 80 fellow Iranians, both family and friends, as well as an impressive number of non-Iranian friends, to an overflow celebration at their home. Such gatherings are held often within the New Jersey Persian community and serve to reinforce ties to ancestral home and culture.

Now a private party is not something that I would ordinarily comment on. But there were a few remarkable scenes that unfolded at this event. First, although our hosts were Jewish, their Iranian guests were Muslim, Christian, Jew and free-thinker, suggesting to me the possibilities for reconciliation that living in a more tolerant society like the US offers. It brought to mind the many Asian Indians and Pakistanis in New Jersey who have turned their backs on past hatreds and learned to live and work together in peace and friendship; and the Americans of Irish descent who opened their homes to Protestant and Catholic young people from northern Ireland and planted the seeds of peace that are now flourishing in that previously troubled country. It's in these kinds of contacts and peaceful exchanges that, I think, give the United States its true distinction in the world.

Another spectacle was also occurring in the backyard, where special barbecue pits had been set up by the hired caterer to prepare the distinctive Iranian beef and chicken kebabs. To say that their preparation is something of an art is no exaggeration. A group of us wandered over to the pits and asked the chef to give a demonstration of his art. What a surprise to discover that the chef was a Salvadoran immigrant who learned the art as an apprentice to a kosher Persian butcher and then went out to establish his own hugely successful Persian food catering service. So comfortable was he operating within a Persian milieu that he had even learned many words and phrases in Persian. Another example of how we Americans, immigrant and non-immigrant alike, are adept at crossing social boundaries and turning that ability into profit!

This kind of creative and peaceful exchange is built on a foundation of respect and trust between people that must be maintained by our leaders and institutions. When any group is castigated and denied equal opportunities, we all pay a price in the long run, a price as high as our way of life.