article 2b8fd40125d5343b 1385356935 9j 4aaqsk In Defense of the American Melting Pot

In Defense of the American Melting Pot

America is a nation of immigrants, which means people bring culture from their country of origin. Unlike other nations, most of which have a homogenized ethnic makeup, America has people from all over. Even taking ‘whites’, there is a fair amount of diversity: Irish, British, French, Polish, Italian, Eastern European, etc. Those groups didn’t always get along, as those nations and regions had long standing history of their own. Part of the consequence of this great American experiment is that oftentimes there is not national agreement on what behaviors are acceptable. In order to make this nation function productively and have a culture that grows over time, we have a series of umbrella-like cultural guidelines.

None of those are more sacred or more integral to the success of the country than the concept of the American melting pot, wherein people share their culture in the public square, other cultures consume and participate in it, and a cultural fusion takes place which makes something uniquely American. Once this process takes place, everyone in the country can adopt these things as part of the fabric of American life, everyone takes pride in being associated with it, and the group which brought the ultimately successful element is rewarded with glory, prestige and increased acceptance in American society.

Several things have gone through this process and become not only cherished in America, but iconically American. Jimmy Carter once said he wanted not a melting pot, but a beautiful mosaic. The endpoint of that concept is similar to what cultural appropriation would create: groups which don’t intermingle, segregate themselves into specific territories, and never unify as Americans rather than hyphenated subgroups.

quote we become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic different people different beliefs jimmy carter 5 0 056 In Defense of the American Melting Pot
Wait… is Jimmy Carter saying he wants us all to be segregated?

Jazz, for instance, evolved out of black night clubs from roots in ragtime and became wildly popular. It evolved after African Americans, brought to the United States, learned to play European instruments after culturally adopting European church hymnals. White musicians picked up jazz and created their own twist in the form of Swing music and participated alongside black musicians in the construction of bebop. Jazz, largely pushed forward by African Americans, was a culmination of influences from the African American community and European society; in discovering and advancing this culmination, they created something that was hugely popular and advanced the African American position in society. People respected jazz musicians.

poster timeline jazz In Defense of the American Melting Pot

In the realm of food, no foods are more iconic in American society than hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, sushi, tacos and barbecue. All of these things originated from the melting pot experience. Hamburgers and hot dogs were brought to America by German immigrants. The concepts of Bratwurst and the Hamburger Rundstuk evolved over time as businesses adapted the recipe over years within the context of the free marketplace in America to cater to the tastes of as many of the different groups as they could who resided there. American pizza, the pride of New York and Chicago, differs dramatically from its European counterpart, as does American sushi with its focus on rolls and different types of combinations and sauces.

1280px Oberhafenkantine Hamburger Rundstück In Defense of the American Melting Pot
A rundstuck from the town of Hamburg, the precursor to the American hamburger.

By most accounts, the Mexican burrito, a staple of American cuisine, was not popular in Mexico and didn’t blast off in popularity until 1923 when a man named Alejandro Borquez opened a cafe in Los Angeles. In recent years, Korean tacos have become very popular in LA — a fusion of American Mexican cuisine and Korean marinated meats and ingredients that couldn’t have happened in any other country in the world.

The melting pot concept, unfortunately, is under attack by a very recent, trendy political concept called cultural appropriation. Now, I don’t want to make an anti-cultural appropriation article because I tend to be for things, not against things. America, a young nation only two and a half hundred years old, is still building its culture. At the bedrock of American culture is the concept of the American melting pot. This is the place where people come from around the world to be free. Creating barriers to the very concept of the melting pot, as cultural appropriation does, undercuts the very foundation of the melting pot process that has achieved so many iconic contributions to American life.

The rationale for this trend is based on American imperialism and resentment that white people adopt things from other cultures. The American melting pot is not something that only white people participate in — for instance, take the Korean taco example above — but barring one group from participating in this experience does no favors to our nation. Rap, for instance, an incredible musical genre originating from the American black community has exploded worldwide: whites participate in it, as do Asians, Europeans, and every other culture in the world. Americans of all stripes love to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and Dia de Muertos, and preventing them from participating does two things: 1) it robs the contributing group from the exploding popularity and acceptance of their culture; and 2) it prevents the melting pot process of cultural fusion that will make it, over time, something that all Americans have ownership of.

TK Post Korean Tacos 19 In Defense of the American Melting Pot
Korean tacos, seen here looking delicious before being hastily devoured seconds later by the photographer

When something succeeds in penetrating into daily American life, that represents a huge step forward in integrating into American society. No longer on the outside, looking in, the contributing group is actively participating in the direction of our culture. Not everyone wins. I have an Irish heritage and corned beef hasn’t exactly penetrated into the American mainstream the same way as tacos and sushi; however, we did bring with us a tradition of literature, poetry and theater, without which America made not have been able to birth some of the greatest writers in the Western world from Mark Twain to T.S. Eliot.

Even video games have roots in the American melting pot experience. While many games are influenced by European, specifically British mythology and fantasy, beginning in the late 1980s, video games became a huge conduit for Asian immigrants to share their culture with the United States. As a result of that process, T.V. shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and RWBY began to originate here and the whole gaming industry, once an import from Japan, has taken root in American society and captured its imagination.

Avatar the last airbender hogwarts In Defense of the American Melting Pot

The beauty of the melting pot is that everyone gets to participate. Ideas get birthed, applauded, and passed around, creating things that are delicious, beautiful, and never before seen in the world. After hundreds of years of this, America will have a culture that can stand toe-to-toe with any ancient civilization around the world from China to Italy. But not if the melting pot concept, a cultural concept everyone in America should applaud and support, is undercut by the 2017 trend of policing cultural appropriations.  So, the next time you see someone calling out another for cultural appropriation, you may point out that the melting pot is one of the core ideals this country was founded on.  If we agree on nothing else, I hope we can agree on that.

quote being a melting pot is what i think is great about being american and also that we get keegan michael key 113 63 59 In Defense of the American Melting Pot

Author

  • Ryan Night

    Ryan Night is an ex-game industry producer with over a decade of experience writing guides for RPGs. Previously an early contributor at gamefaqs.com, Ryan has been serving the RPG community with video game guides since 2001. As the owner of Bright Rock Media, Ryan has written over 600 guides for RPGs of all kinds, from Final Fantasy Tactics to Tales of Arise.

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