Jana Dennison Professor Miner English 2010-054 April 7, 2014 Position Draft Salad or Stew?

Have you ever added seasoning to your meal at dinner time? What about some sauce for your French fries or hot dog? Like most Americans we all enjoy adding some flavor to our food, especially the bland stuff. Unlike our bland food, Americas culture cannot be accused of being bland. Some people say that the culture of the United States is like a melting pot, with many different ingredients being added that have "melted together" to make a new culture. Others say that the culture of the United States is more like a "stew" with different ingredients being added into the American "sauce", but each ingredient retaining some of its uniqueness. (EHS) Or instead of a melting pot, they say, the national ideal should be a salad bowl, in which different elements are thrown together but not melted, so that the original ingredients retain their distinctive character . . . pg188 (Glenn) However, many Americans feel that their way of life is being threatened by immigrants that are holding on to their culture alone by refusing to learn Americas language, isolating themselves in a community of their own background or by maintaining illegal citizenship status with no attempt to obtain legal citizenship. Most of us simply understand the importance of the rule of law and that it is wrong to discriminate against the millions of immigrants who are waiting patiently in line to come to the country legally. (Sanchez) However, many [immigrants] joined ever-growing linguistic communities of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Spanish speakers who live out their entire lives

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without learning, let alone using English. (Glenn) These actions cause fear in American citizens that their American way of life is being threatened, which gives them reason to take a stance on how to guard against further influence, desiring conformity. They feel that if they take away their native language and require them to use only English, the problem will be solved. The unwillingness of the Immigrant to not learn English, and the fear in the American of being over taken by something new and unknown, threatens a division perhaps more ominous in the long run than the division between blacks and whites. Blacks and whites have problems enough with each other, to be sure, but they quarrel with each other in one language. (Glenn) Because of the fear of conformity, immigrants sometimes isolate themselves in a community of their own background. I cant say that I blame some of them after reading statements from the Kansas State Representative who said we should shoot immigrants like wild swine or the Alabama State Senator who advised Republicans to empty the clip, and do what has to be done to stop immigrants from destroying his community. (Sanchez) Are immigrants being driven into isolation out of fear of unacceptance? As quoted from our book, The Harbrace Guide to Writing on page 180, Zitkala-Sa declared that when she was required to abandon her native language in order to communicate with her teachers and fellow students, she lost her native language, [and] no longer felt free to be [herself], or to voice [her] own feelings. (Glenn) Immigrants feel they lose their culture and heritage when they are forced into conformity. And what about relatives they leave behind? They are no longer able to communicate with them. My grandmother came with her family, from Germany, to the United States when she was a little girl. Her family secluded themselves in an established German community in North Dakota. Having been formed years before, their own German language had been altered with a

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mix of altered German and altered English. At first, my grandmother said they could barely communicate with established group, but then their own language began to develop and conform. The problem with this particular isolation? They could no longer communicate with their German people from where they came from, as well as they were still not able to communicate with anyone that spoke English. They could not speak either language well and had therefore truly isolated themselves from everyone. Also causing isolation for any immigrant, is illegal citizenship, with no attempt to obtain legal citizenship. Mexicans who want to come to the U.S. may have to wait 18 years or more for a visa. (Sanchez) This problem alone causes many to come to the United States illegally and maintain an illegal status. This basically puts the individual into hiding, afraid of being exposed and deported back to their native country. They avoid places and people that may expose their citizenship, or the lack thereof. For example, taking the bus instead of a car. In a car, you can get pulled over or in an accident, requiring documentation that you could not obtain legally if you are not in the country legally. And unfortunately, it is those individuals that are here illegally that raise concern among the citizens. They are the ones that the media brings attention to when a crime is committed, when employment opportunities are scarce, when government aid is low, and when taxes to cover the poor are raised. Illegal immigrants may be good people, but they are already breaking the law by being in the country illegally. Many wonder if they are willing to be law-abiding citizens if nothing requires them to be. Considering all of the above, my position was to be afraid and judgmental because of the way I was raised and experiences I had in High School. That is until I met Gloria. Around 5pm the Janitorial staff would come around and empty the garages and dust. The woman that came spoke Spanish only. (I took a year of Spanish in High School, and besides learning how to avoid

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the Hispanics, because of being excluded in class due to my race, I only learned basic words and phrases.) I knew how it felt to be excluded. But things here were different. I was with the majority here and I knew how she felt being the minority, even if my experience was only for an hour a day for a year. I wanted to reach out and help her feel like she wasnt alone and it all started with Hola. After that, we spent every day sharing a word or phrase with each other to help the other learn our native language. I enjoyed her friendship and about a year down the road, she invited my husband and I to her daughters wedding. Gloria helped open my eyes to a beautiful, friendly culture that may have otherwise taken many more years for me to see because of being afraid of something different and unknown. We are ALL guilty of judging by race before knowing the person. According to FBI statistics, the number of anti-Latino hate crimes increased by 35 percent between 2003 and 2007 and doubling in California. (Wikipedia) Do you think this could be out of fear caused my Government Officials making the problem bigger than it is? After gaining citizenship, they are Americans. As stated in out textbook on page 185, U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee . . . We Americans are a unique nation of immigrants united by a common language . . . We are proud of the countries we have come from, but we are prouder to be Americans. (Glenn) No matter their native tongue, they should be seen as fully American because of the warmth and enthusiasm with which they enter into the life of the communities in which they live . . . However, it is also with a common language that we have dissolved distrust and fear. It is with language that we have drawn up the understandings and agreements and social contracts that make a society possible . . . (Glenn)

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Works Cited
EHS. "03.01.01 America's Melting Pot (World Geography)." n.d. Utah Electronic High School (UEHS). Northwest Accreditation Commission. 7 April 2014. <https://share.ehs.uen.org/node/763>. Glenn, Cheryl. The Harbrace Guide to Writing. Ed. Monica Eckman. Concise Second Edition. Boston: Wadsworth, 2012. Paperback Text. Sanchez, Andrea Nill. "Effort To Repeal Utah Immigration Law Launches New Website, Fears Melting Pot In Danger." 30 March 2011. Think Progress. 7 April 2014. <http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/03/30/176542/utah-chris-herrod/>. Wikipedia. Anti-Mexican sentiment. 5 December 2007. 7 April 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Mexican_sentiment#1980s.E2.80.9390s>.

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