The first settlers of the North American continent were immigrants from Europe; most of them crossed the Ocean looking for better life, opportunities, jobs and justice. In the effort of saving their lives, fugitives of many governments also chose America as a quest for new life.
People, who had come from different nations that shared different values, all of a sudden found themselves in this new place where their life would move on. This is how the term “melting pot” originated – it is a mixture of different people in one place.
However, as time passed by, a group of great powers armed with guns came across the Atlantic and took over this founding cultures land. They split this great land into thirteen separate pieces and placed names on them.
In the early years of America a lot of battles took place: the French and the English, the different Indian tribes were fighting each other, the Indian tribes fighting the French, or the Indian tribes fighting the English. This period is best described by one word: chaos. It even reached a point, when around almost every corner someone was fighting someone because of severe hatred and unknowingness of what life will be like tomorrow.
During that time period the cultural biases present in the American society today were created.
Many people think that the United States were created through the blending or melting of many cultures into one common outcome - an American man. The cultural differences and conflicts, which were once present in America, seem to have diminished over time. However, the modern America still retains the fundamental elements of culture that were embedded during the formation.
“I am proud to say that I am blind. I am blind to color, culture, gender, and stereotype. My high school experience has taught me to cherish and to be proud of my own culture while at the same time respecting all other cultures even if I do not understand them” (an anonymous author from the discussion forum on the American history).
Another opinion is that the United States has changed from a melting pot to a vast culture with varying backgrounds. In years before, America was a collection of Chinese, Germans, Italians, Scots, Croats, etc., all craving freedom. Today, even the simple concept of an English-speaking nation is fading off the continent. In the old days, immigrants were taught in English in the public schools. In America today, children are taught in German, Italian, Polish, and 108 other languages. Most of these schools are funded by 139 million federal dollars. The “U.S. News and World Report” magazine gives an example of a school on Chicago’s North Side, in which there are “1,700 kids from 58 countries. Some 60 percent are Hispanic, nearly 20 percent Asian.” (Article “A Nation of New Cities”, April 2, 2001).
Now these groups demand separation from society, to be able to preserve and conserve their customs and languages. The biggest problem with this demand, is whatever accommodation takes place, must be done and accepted by the receiving society. The increasing accommodations directed toward immigrant culture worries many Americans.
Americans fear the special treatment granted to immigrants will affect the unifying force of the country. They say that today, the trend is toward multiculturalism, diversity and adapting the newcomer, rather than on the newcomer adapting himself or herself to . . . a diverse society.
The American culture is more complicated than most people think because Americans have not completely given up their cultural and ethnic backgrounds to become part of a melting pot. Seen in the movie, “A Family Gathering”, Lisa Yasui exemplifies no matter how hard her grandfather tried to assimilate into this American culture he still was different, he was Japanese and in the end his struggle took a toll on his mental status and life. This event proves, regardless of its true meaning, the American myth’s promises of openness, harmony, unity, and equality were deceptive from the beginning.
The book Immigrant Voices by Thomas Dublin gives numerous examples of problems experienced by the immigrant families of Rose Gollup, Mary Paik, Ernesto Galarza, etc., who were trying to assimilate to the realities of their new life in America.
“America is not like a blanket - one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt - many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled make up the American quilt” (Jackson).
The truth is that the differences and conflicts are still very real and very strong. The only difference is that in today’s America they have gone from the forefront of society to hiding under the surface of societies’ consciousness. The prejudices and biases that were once present are still present, yet their signs are more hidden and suppressed by people because of the fear of more percussion once they speak out their minds.
There are more and more people who believe that “melting pot” is no longer the right expression to describe this culture. One of them is Lawrence Levine, professor of history at George Mason University in Virginia.
"We and our forebears have not properly understood the process of immigration, not properly understood the process of enculturation (the process by which we adopt a culture), not properly understood the process of identity formation," Levine said. "There's a great temptation we have to believe in a holistic past in which immigrants were assimilated."
“The melting pot understanding of American culture does not work”, Levine said, “because immigrants to America do not give up their old cultures. Instead, they mix their cultural backgrounds with American culture, creating something new that could not have happened without both elements.”
Levine said that he saw this happen vividly with the black jazz musicians who played in the jazz clubs he frequented as a youth:
"I watched these jazz musicians and I found not only an art that moved and enriched me but I also found an example of how people could be Americans and retain their own culture at the same time…"
He also gave the example of his father, who became a Democrat and adopted a love of baseball while remaining a member of a Jewish fraternity his entire life, “…realizing that Americans keep their old cultures is essential to realizing the nature of the American identity”.
The American politicians share the said concern of the ordinary people. Back in 1984 Mr. Jesse Jackson, the outstanding American democratic leader, described the modern American society as Rainbow, meaning not only the variety of colors of skin and colors of cultural backgrounds, but also the variety of problems.
He pointed out some of them, saying that Arab Americans knew the pain and hurt of racial and religious rejection. They could not continue to be made pariahs. Hispanic Americans were living under the threat of the Simpson-Mazzoli bill; the farm workers from Ohio were fighting the Campbell Soup Company with a boycott to achieve legitimate workers' rights. However, the pain suffered by the Native Americans is the one to be acknowledged in the first place: “the most exploited people of all, a people with the greatest moral claim amongst us. We support them as they seek the restoration of their ancient land and claim amongst us. We support them as they seek the restoration of land and water rights, as they seek to preserve their ancestral homelands and the beauty of a land that was once all theirs. They can never receive a fair share for all they have given us. They must finally have a fair chance to develop their great resources and to preserve their people and their culture”.
He extended his care to Asian Americans, who were killed in the American streets, “scapegoats for the failures of corporate, industrial and economic policies”
He made it very clear that the interests of the needed should be addressed. “We must be unusually committed and caring as we expand our family to include new members. All of us must be tolerant and understanding as the fears and anxieties of the rejected and of the party leadership express themselves in so many different ways”.
He wanted to unite all layers of the American society by solving their problems in order to move ahead.
“If Blacks vote in great numbers, progressive Whites win. It is the only way progressive Whites win. If Blacks vote in great numbers, Hispanics win. When Blacks, Hispanics and progressive Whites vote, women win. When women win, children win. When women and children win, workers win. We must all come together. We must come together.”
Only together the Americans are able to save the American Dream - their “Common Thread”. “Americans are a nation born of an idea, not the place, but the idea, created the United States Government”, said Theodore H. White in “The American Idea”. “Only something worth dying for could unite American volunteers and keep them in the field…” This something is their belief and hope for a better future.
The common thread's point is that once people manage to overcome the cultural barriers and understand that their culture can be a part of the American culture, only then will they manage to bring America to a higher level than it is today. Once they incorporate their own cultural values into the "melting pot" they would also become part of the whole. Henceforth, they would get a better treatment than Lisa Yasui's grandfather had.
In the conclusion, the United States of America of the twenty first century differs a great deal from the USA of the seventeenth century. One should not dramatize the new tendencies in the cultural life development, which were to happen inevitably. Jesse Jackson thinks that it is the time for changes:
”We cannot stand idly by. We must fight for change now.” (Jesse Jackson)
I came to the USA only 20 months ago. It is not that easy for me to fully assess the complexity of cultural problems in the USA. However, I understand that one must always remember that with the start of a new life here in America he or she is bound to encounter various obstacles on the way. The way we cope with them is going to determine our future. Should we oppose the current American values and retain our own or should we become a part of the “melting pot”? Coming from a different cultural background, I am sure that one would not be able to set it all aside easily. That is why it is important to retain your own cultural values and try to blend them in with the current American values. Immigrants with different cultural values formed America. Hence, in the current cultural and moral values of America, I am sure that I can find some aspects relating to my own culture. Common moral values are shared by all cultures. That is why I respect Jesse Jackson for speaking freely and openly about the problems that America is facing. Moreover, he is not afraid of them; he is not trying to escape from them. Mr. Jackson is looking for solutions to resolve the problems and is trying to do it through the use of the common human values that are embedded in any culture.
I’m far from giving advices to the Americans but, in my opinion, this is the only way one can succeed in a country like the United States.