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Gustave---Actually, I think that you are making a correct distinction, but mistakenly applying it. The continued German preference for blood over residency has to do with racism, not xenophobia. Perhaps that is a unique example, but I don't think so. In any case, America has made the "melting pot" part of its national culture, and therefore has explicitly eschewed ethnic nationalism. A high degree of assimilation is expected, but is not a requirement of citizenship, as the Amish and Hasidim can attest, and those who remain separate for religious reasons are generally viewed with tolerance. This does not prevent racism, but it militates against it, which is why the Civil Rights movement was so platitudinous--- segregation, finally, was UnAmerican, and the nation was forced to face up to it... |
