Ronald Takaki Professions : Historian Born : April 12, 1939 Died : May 26, 2009 Browse All Authors Top 4 quotes by Ronald Takaki Our expanding ethnic diversity of this century, a time when we will all be minorities, offers us an invitation to create a larger memory of who we are as Americans and to re-affirm our founding principle of equality. Let's put aside fears of the disuniting of America and warnings of the clash of civilizations. As Langston Hughes sang, Let America be America, where equality is in the air we breathe. Ronald Takaki equality time memories The task for me is to not only comprehend the world, but to change the world. I would like to see a world where America lives up to its ideals, and resolves the contradiction between reality and principles. Ronald Takaki principles reality america How can diverse Americans become "one people"? I believe that one path is for us to pursue the study of the past that includes all of us, making all of us feel connected to one another as "we the people," working and living in a nation, founded and "dedicated" (to use Lincoln's language) to the "proposition" that "all men are created equal." Ronald Takaki men believe past The nation was founded and "dedicated," to use Lincoln's language in the "Gettysburg Address," to equality as a "self-evident truth." But this very principle of equality, as Lincoln also noted, was a "proposition." To make it a reality remained "the unfinished work" of Americans. Ronald Takaki unfinished-work self reality Similar Authors Abram L. Sachar historian Bryan Ward-Perkins historian Bruce Catton historian Bruce Bartlett historian Brian Crozier historian Allan Nevins historian All Authors