Great. I was surprised to read a Harvard professor has warned about illegal aliens: 'Melting pot' America (Excerpts from a BBC Report):
>>American society has often been described as a melting pot but in recent years, it has also attracted other definitions such as "tomato soup" and "tossed salad".
For centuries, the US has attracted people in search of a share of "the American dream" from all corners of the world.
In fact, US history is one of immigration.
In 1620, about 100 English colonists, so-called "Mayflower Pilgrims" left for America seeking religious freedom.
They landed near Plymouth, Massachusetts, marking an early successful European migration to North America, which had been inhabited by Amerindian people for more than 16,000 years.
The immigration flow to the US first accelerated after the French Revolution, and during the 19th century, population pressure, fragmentation of land in rural Europe and famines drove millions of Europeans to the New World.
Throughout the 19th and 20th Centuries, American ports teemed with English, Welsh, German, Irish, Italian, Polish and Chinese immigrants.
Until 1882, the US government practised an open door immigration policy, but at the end of the century, it began trying to control immigration by excluding prostitutes, criminals, alcoholics among others, from coming to the country.
During the 20th century quotas were observed according to the country of origin.
In 1965, the nationality quotas were abolished, which is seen to have inaugurated a new era of mass immigration, particularly from Mexico and Latin America.
Americans take pride in their "melting pot" society that encourages newcomers to assimilate into the American culture.
But the melting pot imagery has been contested by the idea of multiculturalism, the "salad bowl theory", or as it is known in Canada, the "cultural mosaic", whereby the immigrants retain their own national characteristics in a new society.
Some go further. Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington says that large-scale Latino immigration poses a threat to American identity.
According to Professor Huntington the reality of American history is best described as tomato soup: the blending of new ingredients adds spice without compromising the essential character of tomato.
"Contributions from immigrant cultures modified and enriched the Anglo-Protestant culture of founding settlers.
"The essentials of that founding culture remained the bedrock of the US identity, however, at least until the last decades of the 20th Century," Mr Huntington writes in his controversial 2004 book Who Are We. The Challenges to America's National Identity.
He sees the gravest threat to American identity in Mexican immigration which, according to him, is splitting America in two.
"As their numbers increase, Mexican Americans feel increasingly comfortable with their own culture and often contemptuous of American culture", he says.<< |
