Thursday, 19 June 2008: Mexican Americans: Immigrant / American Dream story, or Minority?

Video highlight ("Rethinking the Melting Pot" panel discussion): Kristin Hamon

Review of Terminology from Objective 2 of Dr. White’s Syllabus

Assimilation and the melting pot

To assimilate means to become similar. The term loosely describes a process by which immigrants "become American."

Ethnic or cultural differences disappear through intermarriage, use of a common language, and shared institutions, opportunity, or ideology.

Assimilation can work both ways: the dominant culture sometimes absorbs practices and products brought by immigrants or other ethnic groups, such as values, language, food, etc.

The primary metaphor for assimilation has been "the melting pot." That is, the American experience of public schools, intermarriage, common language and ideology mix and "melt" our differences as in a great cooking vessel. The product of the melting pot is "the new person" or "American" who bears no marks of ethnic or tribal identification.  

Warnings:

Assimilation is suspect to many multicultural scholars because, instead in which as a result of shared background in “a nation of immigrants.”

The melting pot metaphor may be limited where racial minorities are considered, leading to other metaphors like “the rainbow” or “a quilt.”

Introduction of video, participants, etc.

• The “melting pot” metaphor mentioned in Objective 2 is exactly the focus of today’s clips.

• The following clips are from a panel discussion aired on CSPAN2 on February 9, 2004 at Boston College.

• The moderator of the panel discussion is Tamar Jacoby, the editor of the book Reinventing the Melting Pot.

• The participants of the panel discussion and contributors to the book are George Borjas, a Harvard economist, Peter Skerry, a Boston College political analyst, and Stephen Thernstrum, a Harvard historian.
   

• Jacoby explains that the book is a “political act” intended to create a realist approach to assimilation. She explains that perhaps the United States needs to do a better job of creating a “seductive approach” or a “soft sell” of assimilation to immigrants.
   

• Jacoby gives the example of an Asian American man named Eddie Lou that came to the US with his family when he was 2. He seemed to have completely assimilated and yet did not consider himself assimilated to the point that he could identify with much of America’s past (i.e. the 1950s “Leave it to Beaver America”).
   
• Jacoby is not concerned that he won’t “do well.” She explained that he’s not filled with animosity or anger. She is more concerned that he can’t imagine himself as a full American because there is no example shown of what a true American is supposed to be.
   
• Therefore, Jacoby is convinced that we (Americans, presumably) need to provide an example of an “American” and supply the necessary tools in order to aide a more effective assimilation policy.

George Borjas – Harvard Economist – Economic Assimilation

·         Video Clip

o    To assimilate in economic sense means to:

§  Move into market outside of immigrant centered location

§  Adopt norms of American Work Force

§  Learn English

o    Major premise is that the more recent wave of immigrants in the 80s and 90s start off in a worse position economically that the earlier immigrants

§  1890-1924 brought a huge wave of immigrants

§  Takes families about 100 years to fully assimilate

·         Explanation of Borjas’ View of Today’s Society – Kristin Hamon

o    Early 1900s immigrant workers went into manufacturer positions, even with little English.

§  Became highly paid and unionized

§  Led to middle class life

§  Not available now for immigrants – instead they face service jobs

o    2 World Wars

§  Immigrants had to choose to be American

·         German newspaper distributions dropped because of desire to assimilate

·         Class Reactions?

Peter Skerry – Boston College Political Analyst – Political Assimilation

·         Explanation of Skerry’s Definition of Political Assimilation vs. Layperson’s Understanding – Kristin Hamon

o    Political Assimilation is often seen as immigrants being “quiet.” They shouldn’t make any group demands.

• Objective 3
  • Immigrants may suffer discrimination and marginalization by the dominant culture on account of racial and cultural differences as long as those differences are visible or audible.
     
  • With few exceptions, the only immigrants who are treated as minorities are those who are not yet assimilated.

o    Problems with Layperson’s Perspective of Assimilation

§  Critics of immigrant activists have reached the point of rejecting all group demands (i.e. affirmative action).

§  All perspectives that represent “groupness” are ignored.

·         Video Clip

o    In our history, up to the 1950s, ethnic groups were finessed and relied on local and private bargains, favors, and jobs.

o    TODAY is much different.

§  Benefits are distributed to groups as rights or entitlements

§  Beings on debates of benefits and rights which in turn creates animosity

§  Immigrant leaders make claims based on historical grievances.

·         Based on African American paradigm which seems burdensome and unfair

o    It engenders a certain amount of impatience

§  Mexican Americans do not push for affirmative action in Mexico, but in the United States, which is actually a form of assimilation!

§  We only know how to talk about race based on the reform from the post civil rights political institutions.

• Class Reactions?

Assimilation Policy

• The panel argues that the current immigration policy is welcoming immigrants with little education or skills.
  • We have an immigration policy, but no real assimilation policy.
• Should we look to other nations in order to create an assimilation policy?
  • Canada uses a point system
  • New Zealand uses a system that affords immigrants money for the spouse learning English within a certain amount of time ($11,000 in bonds that can be taken back by the government).
• Jacoby states that right now our policy does not say that “we want you to join.”
  • She suggests giving immigrants:
    • 15 years to learn English
    • Programs that will enable their English learning process
    • Financial literacy courses
  • She questions our naturalization process and citizenship exam
    • The test asks how many amendments there are and the colors of the flag. Is this what it means to be an American?
    • Examples
      •  in Saving Private Ryan – “Oh Say Can You See?” sung by captured German solider
      • “Apple Pie and Baseball” – Chavez High School students

Globalization

• 2^nd and 3^rd generations are globalized – rejecting assimilation
  • It is so easy and accessible to fly and to stay close to your country, especially for “New World Immigrants”
• Jacoby says this is an example of “transnationalism” where values are being brought to America and their values are being brought to their home countries as well.
  • Objective 3
    • In contrast to ideal immigrants’ commitment to American national identity and opportunity, New World immigrants may stay loyal to their nearby home countries and remember historical resentments or mixed feelings toward the USA.
       
    • Mexican American immigrant experiences and identities relative to the USA are unique in ways that may make them more ambivalent regarding assimilation to the dominant American culture. Mexican immigration is unique in scale, so there's more of an alternative community. Assimilation proceeds, but maybe at a slower pace.
  • Objective 6
    • “Old Immigrant Model”: Because of the danger and cost of journey by boat, past immigrants found it more difficult to return and were expected to cut ties to the Old World in order to assimilate to American culture
       
    • “New Immigrant Model”: Improved communications and air transportation may enable recent immigrants to feel less pressure to forget the homeland and to assimilate to American culture as rapidly as earlier immigrants.
       
    • The biculturalism and bilingualism of “New Immigrants” may contribute to or reflect an emerging global identity in which human beings are less defined or restricted by nationality.
       
    • “Vertical immigration”: as immigration has increased and trade and national barriers have fallen, societies may be becoming less identified by nationality and more by economics and technology: first world-third world, upper class-lower class, highrise-street, electronic media-manual labor.
      
       

Discussion Questions

1. Do you think the US should have an assimilation policy? What do you think would be an effective assimilation policy that would provide an answer to Jacoby’s question of a more attractive and successful way to encourage immigrants to assimilate?

2. Objective 3 states that immigrants may suffer discrimination and marginalization by the dominant culture on account of racial and cultural differences as long as those differences are visible or audible.

• Do you agree with Skerry that this trend is a result of the United States’ inability to speak about race based on “post civil rights grievances”?

• Do you think that speaking out is a double edged sword? If fighting for your rights is truly American, how can immigrants assimilate in this way? OR Are only fully assimilated immigrants allowed to demand these rights?

3. Objective 6 refers to the “New Immigrant Model” being a result of growing globalization.
   • Do you think that globalization has stopped complete assimilation that we have seen before in the United States?
   • Do you ever think it will be possible for those immigrating to ever completely assimilate within a nation faced with the “New Immigrant Model?”