Is There a Single American Culture
Is There a Single American Culture?
Short answer: No
I was watching CBS Evening News, and
Nora O’ Donnell was asking a little boy, being detained with his family, behind
the border fence in the Southern border, “dónde estás?”. The boy
responded faintly “Estados Unidos”. There is no doubt America is the
most sought after country in the world to live in. Why not? People from
all countries around the world wanted to come and experience the great American
dream. From the Mayflower migrants like the forefathers of Jaqueline Kennedy to
ordinary people like my Chinese great great-grandfather who first came to
America. Each one has brought with them
their very own, rich culture and tradition. Since everyone loves food, I will use this as my
example. Chinese food, French, German, Polish etc. had been part of the
American society. Just look at the presence of these wide choices of
restaurants in almost all cities, in all states. The diversified cultures represent the
individualism in America. We have Chinatown, Korean, Italian town and others, all over
the country.
The founding fathers of America fought
and sacrifice for our democracy. It is our responsibility as Americans today to
support, protect and defend the constitution of this country. As immigrants
must also adopt to these principles enshrined to the declaration of our
independence. America is a “culture
compromise” nation, where everyone has the right to live by the dictates of
their conscience, heritage and the teachings of their faith. In the book Song
of Solomon by Toni Morrison the African Americans had their own culture which exist
along with the White culture everyone knows about. Although this took place in
the era of racism, this unique culture did not die out, it actually intertwined
and retained its distinct characteristics. Unlike other countries that have a
singular culture, America was built on the foundation of diversified distinct culture of its
people. We are all one people, one family and one
glorious nation. Love this country, honor its history and respect the American
Flag. We maybe descendants of people
from all over the world but we all now have one shared value of democracy, we
are all now, Americans.
oh my gosh this post is so good. i literally was nodding along while reading it. I'm currently taking ap comp gov (basically world politics) and one of the things I read in the textbook was about how America is so uniquely diverse and on track to be a country where the minority is the majority. This whole concept is integral to our identity as Americans - that our differences have a right to be. I loved how you said that we should "honor our country's history." This made me wonder: if we refuse different races or populations the ability to become American, is this not a disgrace to our country's history? I feel as if this is especially ironic since most of the people who are xenophobic or racist are so heavily portrayed as being extremely patriotic.
ReplyDeleteI really agree that American culture is just a huge mixture. I mean, it is called the "melting pot" for a reason. While a culture may lose a little first coming to America, it will become whole again from the vat of other cultures all mixing together to create this distinct American culture that we currently live in.
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