From: MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu (Michael Edelman)
Subject: Cultures, -centric, etc.
Organization: Wayne State University, C&IT
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 15:21:54 GMT

It has always been fashionable to assert that the mythical melting
pot doesn't really exist. People still identify themselves as Italian
Americans, Polish Americans, African Americans, and so on. We still
maintain our seperate identities.
 
But the small differences we do maintain are misleading; there is far
more assimilation than there is distinct identity among groups. For
most people whose are second generation or beyond, ethnic identity is
something celebrated in the context of a particular religious rite or
on certain holidays; fourth-generation Irish only seem to assert their
membership in that group on St. Patrick's day- but so do a lot of non
Irish.
 
Which brings me to the second point: What is often mistakenly referred
to as "European" or "White" culture is more truely American culture. It
is a polyglot of bits and pieces from different groups. We all had to
assimilate a foreign culture when we came here. My ancestors coming from
a shtetl in Riga or Brest had to adapt to different styles of behavior, dress,
language and so forth. This was made easier by the fact they were running
away from opression, but it was nonetheless difficult, and those whom came
over late in life, like my great-grandfather, never did apart.
 
But they did adapt in order to be more "American", to share the experience.
The earliest of them never were fully accepted as Americans by those whose
ancestors had beaten them by 20 or 40 years, but in successive generations
the differences lessened. Part of this was that their culture also diffused
through mainstream American culture and became part of it.
 
There are a number of movements today that call for "Afrocentric" or
other culture-specific educational programs, and my point in this essay
is to argue that such programs are destructive for a number of reasons.
One is that they reinforce the notion of a given group- those who trace
their roots back to Africa, in this case- as different, and not fellow
Americans. The other is that the movement is based on a misunderstanding
of the notion of having both a shrared "American" culture as well as a
certain ethnic identity.
 
I once jokingly proposed my plan for social stability in America: Everyone
would be required to marry someone of a very different ethnic and racial
origin. Within a few generations we would all become a complex mix of so many
groups it would be impossible to identify with any one; we would of
necessity have to identify ourselves as "Americans" and would then
hopefully acheive the kind of social stability we see in monocultural
societies like Japan and Norway. I say I proposed this in jest, but I
think there's a lot of truth in the assertion that intermarrige would
make us a more cohesive society.
 
But that's not really necessary. What *is* necessary is for people to
realize that the embracing of a common culture and set of shared experiences
is what brings people closer together. For most people, the threat they
see in someone of another race is not the color of their skin, but the
alien image. They are confronted with a person of, for all practical
purposes, an alien culture. All they have to go on is stereotypical notions
of the media, especially when they have had but a limited contact with others.
 
The pity is that when some poeple try to do this, they're accused of
"acting white". It's not acting white. It's embracing a common culture that
most "white" people found as alien as did Africans when they came here.
But there are many keepers of the PC flame who don't see this. They insist
that anyone outside of what they identify as the "white, european" elite
be treated as perpetual victims, and be kept on virtual reservations. And
*that* is a real tragedy.
 
       --mje
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