Immigrants Shunning the Idea of Assimilation

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Immigrants Shunning the Idea of Assimilation

Newspaper article

By: William Branigin

Date: May 25, 1998

Source: Branigin, William. Washington Post. "Immigrants Shunning the Idea of Assimilation." (May 25, 1998).

About the Author: William Branigin has worked as both a staff writer and as a foreign correspondent with the Washington Post for more than twenty years. In 2000, he won the Eugene Katz Award from the Center for Immigration Studies in recognition of excellence in his coverage of immigration issues.

INTRODUCTION

The history of the development of a distinct American society has involved a multitude of different peoples becoming a part of the societal fabric of the nation over a period of more than 350 years. The manner in which these various immigrant peoples integrated themselves into the existing American society from the colonial period to approximately 1960 generally, but never exclusively, conformed to the melting pot theory. The melting pot is the popular American metaphor for assimilation that describes the generally accepted belief that the best immigrant peoples were those who adopted the ways of the American culture that they found on their arrival.

The first colonists in the period after 1620 were predominately Northern European peoples. By the time that the Declaration of Independence was issued in 1776, there existed a relatively homogeneous, English speaking Protestant community along the American eastern seaboard. The immigrant peoples that followed tended to meld readily into this early American society.

By 1850, concerns about new Irish Catholic immigration that appeared distinct from the American melting pot prompted the formation of the American Party (the Know-Nothings), an organization that was emphatically nativist in its political and cultural outlook. The nativist movement was less pronounced after the Civil War, as waves of immigrants arrived to work in the rapidly expanding American manufacturing sectors. The political recognition of what types of immigrants were desirable for their ability to become a part of the cultural mainstream, and those to be excluded for their differences was made apparent in the 1880s. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was followed by a series of legislative enactments to prevent other Asian immigration, and particularly persons from India and Japan, from taking permanent residence in the United States. The Asians were seen as undesirable in that many Americans believed that they would never assimilate themselves into American culture. It is a historical footnote to the attitude of the United States to Oriental persons that in the war years between 1942 and 1945, persons of Japanese ancestry were interned (the majority of whom were American citizens), whereas only a miniscule number of persons of German and Italian heritage were similarly held.

American immigration laws were significantly liberalized beginning in the 1960s and for the first time in American history, the immigration patterns included persons from a diverse range of ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Mexican, Hispanic and south East Asian peoples now settled in large numbers throughout America, particularly in its urban areas. A wide range of legal and government policy decisions created an environment where the pressure to assimilate into existing American society was less pronounced than in earlier generations.

In 2006, it was estimated that approximately thirty-three million persons living in the United States were born in another country, a population greater than that of Canada.

PRIMARY SOURCE

[This text has been suppressed due to author restrictions]

SIGNIFICANCE

The assimilation of immigrants into American culture and society has been the general standard by which foreign persons have become a part of the American mainstream. The process of assimilation is not by a fixed method, nor does it follow a distinct path. Assimilation was traditionally assumed as desirable by both the existing American society as well as by immigrant persons themselves. For the Americans, immigrant assimilation meant that the newcomers would adopt American ways and adhere to what are broadly described as American values. For the immigrant, the melting pot was the environment where the opportunities for economic, educational, and social advancement were greatest.

Assimilation policies have also been the subject to notable exceptions in American history. An example is the status of the aboriginal peoples of the United States. For the large part of the history of dealings between the United States government and the aboriginal peoples, assimilation of native culture into the larger whole was a formal policy of government. The modern attitude towards American aboriginals has been one to encourage cultural diversity.

In a similar fashion, the establishment of the Mormon people in Utah after 1847 was a recognition that a group distinct from the religious and cultural mainstream could be permitted to pursue a particular lifestyle without significant interference.

The related notions of American ways and American values became increasingly difficult to quantify as the country expanded through the twentieth century. It is this difficulty that has contributed to the ability of many millions of immigrants to remain outside of the traditional melting pot in a fashion that would have been impossible forty years ago. The increasingly multi-cultural nature of American society has meant that cultural diversity is a far more acceptable concept in the minds of its citizens than at any other time in American history.

The American core culture that is stated to be at the heart of American society has traditionally included Christianity, an adherence to Protestant values and its work ethic, the use of the English language, and a legal system built upon the traditions of the Anglo-American law. It is clear that the demographics of modern America are such that of the thirty-three million current American immigrants, few would neatly fit into the conventional American core culture framework.

The other aspects of traditional American core values are ones that have been embraced by immigrant peoples as diversity and multiculturalism have taken root in the United States. Liberty, equality of opportunity, freedom of religion and expression, and democratic government are all principles that underlie other diverse societies throughout the world. The American legal system has ruled in a number of distinct areas that both the federal and the state governments must take measures to assist immigrant persons in their transition to life in America; the provision of mandatory English as second language programming for immigrant school children is an example. The mandating of similar requirements in 1900 would have been considered absurd; in the American melting pot, it was the immigrant's responsibility to conform to the society where they had chosen to move.

Author Samuel Huntington describes the modern American immigrants as 'ampersands', persons with a built-in duality who are resident in America for primarily economic reasons and thus they are persons who possess no allegiance to the traditional core values of the country.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, raised the consciousness of many Americans concerning a suspected vulnerability of the nation to further terrorist action from within its recent immigrant population. It is of interest that with approximately thirty-three million residents born outside of the United States, the country has a ratio of one immigrant for every nine residents. In 1900, the ratio of immigrant to native born persons was one in seven.

The primary source article is also significant in the sense that while the Mexican people profiled in Omaha, Nebraska, are perhaps markedly different in their lifestyle and language than mainstream American culture, their attitudes are ones that would be otherwise embraced as decidedly American. The parents secured their citizenship. The father is fully employed and clearly seeks to create a better economic foundation for his family. Theirs is an apparently stable family unit that is self sustaining and it does not require social assistance. These are also hallmarks of the traditional American societal values.