I'm so weary of reading articles and comments that blithely discuss "assimilation" as if it's a simple process, and utilize the descendants of Ellis Island immigrants as if they were the perfect exemplar. No, and NO. Wearing jeans and eating pizza does not make one American. Speaking English does not make one American. I first really thought about this when I lived in England, and wondered if I married a non-American and raised my children abroad, would it matter? What did being an American mean and why did it matter to me? What did I want to pass on to my children?
Being an American means understanding, deep in your gut, the historical "rights of Englishman." It means a sense of independence and self-reliance. It means identifying with the signers of the Constitution and the settlers of the plains as one's ancestors, even if there is no direct genetic link. It means remaining skeptical of government and authority, but trusting in God (and no, we don't "all" worship the "same one"). It means calling and considering oneself an "American," with no modifier or hyphen of any sort.
These things used to be inculcated over years of schooling, via holiday celebrations, through public pressure, and from parental pride. It took generations of people living and working and dying here, gradually becoming part of the fabric of American life and feeling a sense of pride in self and country resonate. It took Germans marrying Italians marrying Swedes, and ancestors from the "old country" dying as their great-grandchildren knew only that they, their parents, and their grandparents were born and raised and died AMERICANS. It took generations for all ties, other than sentiment and memory, to other countries to be severed.
A "Swedish-American" who prefers communal living and votes for socialist candidates may be a solid worker and nice neighbor, but does he truly understand "the rights of Englishmen?" An Italian-American "guido" may swagger and brag about his home turf, but does he truly count Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson among his ancestors? A "Jewish-American" may brag his uncle Maury fought in WWII, but do his children volunteer to serve in the US armed forces or the IDF?
Assimilation ultimately means intermarriage and a type of ethnocide. Europeans still have very distinct and treasured national identities. An Englishman is not a Scott is not a Frenchman. Only in America (and to other degrees, in other diaspora English countries such as Canada and Australia) does one find the mongrelized or generic "White" person whose sole national identity is American. How else is someone of English, Irish, and Hungarian ancestry to identify? The Founders created a new nation and a new people.
Those people did not include, and were NEVER INTENDED TO INCLUDE, Hindus and Chinese and Somalis. How many "Chinese-American citizens" have been convicted of spying for their true home country? How true-blue "American" was Jonathan Pollard?
Race is identity is culture. DNA matters. Thus the Alt Right.
I'm so weary of reading articles and comments that blithely discuss "assimilation" as if it's a simple process, and utilize the descendants of Ellis Island immigrants as if they were the perfect exemplar. No, and NO. Wearing jeans and eating pizza does not make one American. Speaking English does not make one American. I first really thought about this when I lived in England, and wondered if I married a non-American and raised my children abroad, would it matter? What did being an American mean and why did it matter to me? What did I want to pass on to my children?
Being an American means understanding, deep in your gut, the historical "rights of Englishman." It means a sense of independence and self-reliance. It means identifying with the signers of the Constitution and the settlers of the plains as one's ancestors, even if there is no direct genetic link. It means remaining skeptical of government and authority, but trusting in God (and no, we don't "all" worship the "same one"). It means calling and considering oneself an "American," with no modifier or hyphen of any sort.
These things used to be inculcated over years of schooling, via holiday celebrations, through public pressure, and from parental pride. It took generations of people living and working and dying here, gradually becoming part of the fabric of American life and feeling a sense of pride in self and country resonate. It took Germans marrying Italians marrying Swedes, and ancestors from the "old country" dying as their great-grandchildren knew only that they, their parents, and their grandparents were born and raised and died AMERICANS. It took generations for all ties, other than sentiment and memory, to other countries to be severed.
A "Swedish-American" who prefers communal living and votes for socialist candidates may be a solid worker and nice neighbor, but does he truly understand "the rights of Englishmen?" An Italian-American "guido" may swagger and brag about his home turf, but does he truly count Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson among his ancestors? A "Jewish-American" may brag his uncle Maury fought in WWII, but do his children volunteer to serve in the US armed forces or the IDF?
Assimilation ultimately means intermarriage and a type of ethnocide. Europeans still have very distinct and treasured national identities. An Englishman is not a Scott is not a Frenchman. Only in America (and to other degrees, in other diaspora English countries such as Canada and Australia) does one find the mongrelized or generic "White" person whose sole national identity is American. How else is someone of English, Irish, and Hungarian ancestry to identify? The Founders created a new nation and a new people.
Those people did not include, and were NEVER INTENDED TO INCLUDE, Hindus and Chinese and Somalis. How many "Chinese-American citizens" have been convicted of spying for their true home country? How true-blue "American" was Jonathan Pollard?
Race is identity is culture. DNA matters. Thus the Alt Right.