A Melting Pot or a Salad Bowl

Immigration is an integral part of America’s cultural identity and identity as a whole.  There exist two metaphors that describe multiculturalism in the US and attempt to paint the picture of precisely what happens to immigrants when they arrive on American soil.  

America is a Melting Pot. 

I’m positive everyone’s heard this traditional metaphor that dates all the way back to the eighteenth century.  The Melting Pot is all about unifying and becoming one (or essentially more homogeneous).  According to Politico Magazine, “the melting pot stands for amalgamation, the voluntary blending of previously distinct groups into a new community.”  But there’s a newer metaphor that seems to slowly be taking its place as we continue to modernize, accommodate, and progress. 

America is a Salad Bowl (or Mixed/Tossed Salad).

The Salad Bowl is about retaining the individuality of immigrants and merely tossing everyone together (or essentially becoming more heterogeneous) “bound together only by the ‘dressing’ of law and the market” in the bowl that represents our country.

These metaphors can be interpreted in numerous different ways and carry multiple positive and negative connotations.

Countless immigrants are genuinely concerned about losing the unique cultural backgrounds that they brought with them.  The Melting Pot metaphor almost implies that their cultures will melt away in the big pot that is America, leaving them lost and forced to adapt to an unknown land and its people. 

Although immigrants may feel lost and as if the culture that they hold so dear and close is slipping from their grip, they will be found again, but as Americans.  J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur was an immigrant from France who (when he spoke of America) stated that “individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.”  There is a sense of great patriotic beauty in this, but also a sense of loss – Loss of origin, loss of cultural identity, and loss of tradition.

Racial profiling has been a huge problem in the US.  Many Americans feel generalized by being forced to check off boxes on Census forms and other government documents.  Many peoples’ races/ethnicities are not even listed as options to check off.  People didn’t want to be defined or confined by this type of racial profiling.  The sense of loss people feel may have resulted in why many people of rich cultural backgrounds wish to be called Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Chinese-Americans, African-Americans etc., proudly letting their identities show through. 

The preference of hyphenated labels is growing in popularity as people move away from the cut-and-dry racial and ethnic identity check boxes on government documents.  This is where the Salad Bowl idea comes in as a protector of these identities and customs.  The Salad Bowl advocates for Americans to cherish their heritage, where the Melting Pot advocates for the unification of the country by letting go of some customs and ideals that do not match American ones.   

Furthermore, Americans are actually maintaining the Melting Pot metaphor through interracial marriages. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2010 37.5 percent of newlywednative-born Asian-Americans and 36.2 percent of newlywed native-born Hispanicsmarried outside of their race/ethnicity.  Marrying outside of race/ethnicity is the Melting Pot at work.  This displays physical mixing, possible sharing of cultures, and blending of values, as opposed to strictly marrying within a specific ethnic group and preserving the same customs together. 

I personally believe that the materialism of the salad bowl metaphor could potentially divide immigrants into fixed groups and eventually promote ghettos.  Assimilation (or more specifically, amalgamation), as suggested by the melting pot metaphor, however, could possibly help immigrants integrate more into American culture.  When they do so, their culture becomes our culture and we can all join together as Americans on common ground.  Embracing individual culture and background is extremely important in keeping the multiculturalism and diversity in America alive.  However, blending (not merely mixing) and truly sharing the culture, I believe, is of utmost importance.

So what is modern-day America – A Melting Pot or a Salad Bowl?  Or maybe a little bit of both? – Like a hardy stew (blended but with some chunks remaining)?  What do you think it should be?