COLUMN: If America’s a ‘melting pot,’ then why aren’t we melting?
Last Saturday, I was sitting at a friend’s house not wearing green and hoping to get pinched. I realized a few things halfway through my fifth round through the house yelling, “I’m not wearing green” and smiling as a horde of friends and strangers, who were all in some state of teetering inebriation, flocked around me and pinched.
First, I realized the reason leprechauns are so happy is because they’re drunk all the time. Second, I don’t care why whiskey was invented. And third, I was taking part in a very bigoted holiday.
March is the Irish-American month, February was African-American month and January was the “I can’t believe I made it through another year” month. Do I have a problem with that? Yes. Well, not with January because everyone can relate to that, but the other two are very specifically heritage-oriented. Let me clarify here, because we are now getting into boiling waters. I have no problem with heritage or that people have months set aside to honor it. What I do have a problem with is the extremist who places his or her heritage or nationality above any other’s.
If you think I’m being far fetched, let’s just look at all the politically correct prefixes we have to the word American when dealing with one’s origin. We have African-American, Asian-American, Irish-American, Italian-American, Russian-American and on and on. We are still insisting that we segregate ourselves based on something as petty as blood.
This whole idea of claiming or even demanding you are a Something-American, especially when you are a mixed breed like the majority, is a sure sign of an inability to commit. And guess what else? You are contributing to this melting pot we call home remaining the segregated and bigoted nation it is.
There are people who believe that simply because of a person’s nationality, they are either good or bad. Forget the reality of individual worth and dislike based on one’s heritage. That’s insane!
Here’s a very simple concept that applies to everyone who was, is and will be born in America: You are an AMERICAN! No prefixes and no half-one-blood-type and half-another-blood-type, i.e. Irish-Japanese or Russian-African. This is America; you are an American. Why is this such a hard concept for some to understand?
Yes, we will still have mixed blood in us, and I say let’s keep mixing it up. My main reasoning for saying that can easily be summed up in three words: “the Royal Family.” Now you have a little better understanding of the importance of blending our blood and nationality.
If you are into genealogy and are interested in learning more about your family history, go ahead – enjoy. But do not let it consume you and become who you are. We create our own history. So let’s stop trying to validate ourselves based on our bloodline or heritage. This only creates a self-induced view of superiority based on dead people who have the same blood or last name you do. We are Americans, and America is the great melting pot, so let’s remember that and try melting.
“The Way I See it” appears every Friday in the Statesman. Richard Timothy is a senior majoring in technical writing. Comments may be e-mailed to rtimothy@hotmail.com