I want to participate in the multicultural discussion without being dismissed, stereotyped, or derogated as a white man. I want all of us to feel that it is never okay to judge someone by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character (in Martin Luther King’s famous phrasing). King said of white allies, “They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.” He probably meant that white people’s own freedom depends on demanding the freedom of black people. But “inextricably bound” is a two-way street, and I can also enhance the freedom of black people by demanding my own. I believe we can make the world a better place by not accepting marginalization based on race, sex, color, or sexual orientation for any purpose.
Some say there is no problem: there is hardly any racism left. Some say there is no problem: just submit to the multicultural agenda and take your lumps. I say there is a problem: multiculturalism becomes the thing it despises (because it is performed by humans), and the only solution is to welcome excluded voices, even when those voices come from straight white men.
Why would a white guy want a seat at the multicultural table? Why not slink away and rejoin other tables, where I am already a full-fledged member? I’ve certainly seen white colleagues respond to rebuff with retreat—and I’ve seen many multiculturalists wonder why those colleagues don’t support the diversity events (where by “support” they mean silent and chastised attendance or declarations of being racist and deserving payback for the sins of others).
The short answer is outrage. I quivered with rage when I first saw children mistreated. After consulting on 10,000 child welfare cases over 28 years, I don’t react quite so intensely. Homophobia pisses me off today like overt racism did in the Sixties. Outrage underlay even my psychotherapy practice, and believe me when I tell you that it is hard to be warm and empathic when you’re outraged. I get angry at the tyrannies imposed on clients by their families, their communities, and themselves. I get extra angry when I hear how therapists frequently treat clients, which gets pretty close to the way aristocrats treat commoners (“in my experience, they like it when I [insert some form of self-indulgence here]”). My view of therapy has sensitized me to subtle ways we exploit others. Thus sensitized, I refuse to relinquish my political, personal, and professional interest in social justice and power dynamics just because I am not the right sex, color, or sexual orientation to express that interest. I belong at the multicultural table as much as anyone. If you think white men are already welcome there without debasing themselves, you are very lucky in your choice of multicultural conversations or you are not paying attention.
I also want a seat because it is becoming the most important table in the social sciences. Why this has happened is not clear to me and really doesn’t matter. Even a book on report writing must, if the proposal has any chance of acceptance, include a chapter on culturally competent practice. If I want to be a full-fledged member of my academic environment, I need to be fluent in power theory and multiculturalism.
Finally, frankly, I want a seat at the multicultural table because I am not welcome there. That’s not my oppositionality talking—that’s my privilege talking. I have sought out situations where I am full-fledged, and now I’ve come to expect it. Because I believe that no one should be excluded from any conversation on account of race or sex or sexual orientation (baby showers annoy me one way or another—I’m either excluded because I’m a man or I have to go to them), I feel entitled to elbow my way, politely but firmly, into the multicultural group. Everyone should feel this way. A minority therapist (minority!—he identified as Chinese, putting him in the largest ethnic group of all) told me once that he wanted white men to feel as self-conscious and vulnerable as he feels when walking down American streets. I told him that my goal was for him to feel as happy-go-lucky, carefree, and oblivious as I do. We should all be privileged, not all unprivileged.
Stronger people than I’ll ever be elbowed their ways—politely but firmly—into bus seats, lunch counters, and segregated neighborhoods when I was an impressionable youth. To do any less at the multicultural table, especially when the stakes are so low regarding my physical safety, would be to drop the torch that, at least in my imagination, I am expected to carry.
Michael Karson, Ph.D. 
How would you respond if he asked “how can I feel as carefree and oblivious as you?”
The long term answer is to change society so that appearing Chinese is not a disqualifying trait for activities he pursues (like walking down the street). But my point of course was not that this was easy, but that this is the goal (as opposed to enjoying my discomfort when I am not full-fledged).
So now we just to figure out how to change society. Maybe start with being able to discuss these perspectives, such as in a multicultural course sequence. Actually, I think it begins with someone willing to initiate and provide a forum for discussion, such as by blogging!
If only!