Being American and Multi-Cultural

My friend George Moneo published an interesting post at Babalu this afternoon. It quoted an article published in The American Thinker about the definition of being an immigrant. I admit that I felt uneasy reading parts of the TAT article, not quite to the point of denouncing it as intolerant, but close.

It starts off good:

To ordinary Americans, the definition of "“immigration"” is very specific: You come here with absolutely nothing except a burning desire to be an American. You start off at some miserable, low-paying job that at least puts a roof over your family’s head and food on the table. You put your kids in school, tell them how lucky they are to be here -– and make darn sure they do well even if that means hiring a tutor and taking a second, or third, job to pay for it. You learn English, even if you'’ve got to take classes at night when you'’re dead tired. You play by the rules - —which means you pay your taxes, get a driver'’s license and insure your car so that if yours hits mine, I can recover the cost of the damages. And you file for citizenship the first day you'’re eligible.

But then it turned south:

Do all this and you become an American like all the rest of us. Your kids will lose their accents, move into the mainstream, and retain little of their heritage except a few words of your language and - if you'’re lucky - —an irresistible urge to visit you now and then for some of mom'’s old-country cooking.

To me, this last paragraph read, "forget your heritage, you're an American now. Being multi- cultural is not how you become an American".

Perhaps I read into it wrong, but that's how I reacted. I'm sensitive to this particular topic, and that's probably skewing my thought process.

George and I disagreed in the comments section, but mainly from a misunderstanding of what multi-culturalism is. To me, it's about being 100% American yet embracing and celebrating your heritage. It's being comfortable with more than one culture. It's accepting different cultures as unique and part of the overall American fabric. It's what makes America great and unique next to most other countries. Ethnic and separatist groups such as MECHA and Aryan Nation don't seek multi-culturalism, they seek to divide by imposing their culture on the rest of us. Multi-culturalism, on the other hand, adds and enhances the surrounding cultures. The "Melting Pot" wouldn't be so tasty if a different culture didn't want to join the others.

Certainly, this issue is much more complex than I'm making it out to be. La Ventanita brings up some good points in her own analysis of the TAT article here. This particular comment is right on:

It will shed light on why this immigration debate is raising so many emotions. And NO it's not Xenophobia, its not racism, it is not anti-immigrant sentiment. It's the lack of Americanism, the lack of want and drive to be an American. It's the lack of love some of these groups feel towards our country because many of them are still in their homeland.

Multi-culturalism means that both cultures must be respected. Obviously, some immigrants don't want to embrace the American culture, which is wrong and disrespectful. The signs I referred to in my post last week didn't merely reflect pride for one's heritage, it was a reflection of a profound lack of respect for the United States.

Where we sometimes fall into a trap is when we interpret any kind of ethnic pride by an immigrant as anti-American. Tastefully showing pride for one's heritage doesn't automatically mean disrespect for America. One can love America AND his/her heritage. I don't have a problem with someone waving the flag of another country on U.S. soil, so long as the intent is to show pride and not to dishonor this country. I say this from my experience as a Cuban- American. How many C-A's display Cuban flags at festivals and other gatherings, then turn around and fly Old Glory on national holidays or after 9/11? Many.

If you've stuck with me for this long, my point is simply this: It's OK to be proud of where you're from AND where you're at. One can be multi-cultural and a good American.