9/26 "Melting-Pot"

 

 

"Melting-Pot"

"These people were not mere arrivals from the same family, to be welcomed as understood and long-loved, but strangers to the neighborhood, with whom a long process of settling down had to take place. For they brought with them their national and racial characters, and each new national quota had to wear slowly away the contempt with which its mere alienness got itself greeted."

 

 

 

 

 

In the early 20th century the U.S absorbed  its first largest immigration in its history. About 18 million people came from all over Europe. Today, the U.S is experiencing a second great wave of immigration. Today's immigrants are not coming from Europe but from developing countries such as Asia and Latin America. As we can see  America was founded on immigrants yet over the centuries we seem to forget that and we become intolerant to people that we view as strangers, as "these people". We do not see them as part of us and by doing so we prolong their processes of acclimating to their new country. Instead of embracing these people different culture and learn a new thing, we chose to view it as  problem. Bringing with them their national and racial characters make them stand apart from the "One America".

 I chose this because I think its ironic. We seem to be obsess with wanting to conform everyone around us to " Americans" . But what is America? who decide how an American should behave and look like? We are all immigrants, whether we came with the Mayflower or more recently. Are we really trying to turns others into Americans? or are we just afraid of people who are different of us?