Insider/Outsider Multiculturalism

This week we read several articles about multiculturalism from various authors and points of view. Some of the discussion was the definition of multiculturalism and if only an "insider" in that culture could write about that culture.
Patrick Shannon states that he is the "cannon" , the very thing that is not multicultural at all. After reading his article I could see this argument from his perspective; although I did not like the term "the others" when speaking about anyone who was multicultural.
Then came the responses to Shannon from several authors that he mentions in his article. The responses made me look at his article in a different light. I went back and reread his article after reading all of the material and realized that he could be considered part of the problem. Shannon states that both Rudine Sims Bishop and Violet Harris think that multiculturalism is only about race. Both take offense to this comment and reply that they wrote books to look at only one small part of what multiculturalism is, and that is the discussion of minority race. As Bishop states "That is the chunk of multicultural literature that I have choose to focus on, and I've tried to be clear on that." Both authors agree that most of the time people from that culture do write more accurate stories, but not always. Harris says that "The most egregious assertion Shannon makes is that I imply that only a person who is a part of the culture can write about that culture because the chapter authors write only about their groups. This is an error." Harris that goes on to discuss authors that write outside their culture group and do it well.
I am inclined to agree with Harris, write about what you know. If you have studied and lived within a culture and even have input from that culture then write about it. As long as the information is honest and the author truthful then I do not think that you have to only be an "insider" to write about a culture.
I found it interesting that both Bishop and Harris mentioned that Shannon could take some teachable moments with his students when they all snicker at a part in a story he is reading about fried chicken, beer and watermelon from Tar Beach.
One ending quote from Bishop that I really liked was "This problem is not going to be solved as long as people excuse themselves from confronting it."