Inclusion in the American "Melting Pot"

I am currently taking Dr. Perry’s Race and Ethnicity in American Society course, and we have recently begun discussing the idea of America being a “melting pot”. This concept has always been idealized for as long as I have been exposed to it, presented as something our nation should strive for.The “melting pot” is a glorified assimilation, with all different groups being thrown in, melted down into a uniform blob of culture and identity. This homogeneous culture sounds like it could be positive in terms of a united nation, but does everyone get invited into this pot?

In Steven Steinberg’s article “The Melting Pot and the Color Line” he discusses how more and more groups of people are being allowed to identify themselves as “white”, the group that is at the top of society’s racial hierarchy. People of European, Latin American, and even Asian descent are being more widely accepted as being superior status, yet the African American community is continued to be excluded from this “pot”. The people that built our country by force, who have roots deeper than any of these other groups, are continuing to be denied acceptance, while brand new immigrants who quickly begin to assimilate are welcomed with open arms.

Why is it that they are still treated this way? The Civil Rights Movement and the progress made during this era was supposed to mend race relations, however this struggle continues. There is still a large disparity between opportunities for white and black people, yet this difference is much smaller between whites and other races. While the times are much better in comparison than they were during the days of Jim Crow, we do a disservice to the oppressed groups by making this comparison because there is still so much room for improvement.

So how might we reframe this idea of the American “melting pot” that doesn’t rid people of their cultural individuality but instead welcomes these differences from all different races, including African Americans? As cheesy as it sounds, I like to think of it less as a uniform, melted blob and more of a gumbo, with each ingredient as a distinct part but all are needed to make it taste good.We need to find a way to make the melting pot less of losing different cultural identity to make way for the ones have been socially approved and instead find a way to celebrate the many different places we have come from in order to become the nation we are.We cannot forget that the African American community are the ones who have been there during it all, and they deserve a place in the pot along with everyone else.