The terrorist attack has a decisive and complex effect on the nature of American society, on the fate of the multiculturalism that flourished until September 11, and on the treatment of immigrants in this nation-of-immigrants
By Gregory Rodriguez
American national identity is not based on common ancestry or on
common national heritage. Admittedly, assimilation has become a dirty word in dozens
The last few years, however, this process, where people from different backgrounds see
themselves over time part of a broad national family, this already served as a basis
for citizenship. Since America is a nation of immigrants, its history has been
A constant struggle of people from the outside who wanted to become people from the inside,
to belong But America's very diversity makes it particularly uncomfortable
Towards the idea of the "other".
Now, following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, have been made
Americans are more suspicious of outsiders than they have been in decades
years And this has profound implications for the discussion of the question of what this means
to be american
Assimilation and assimilation were considered for a long time to be a process of reduction
And subtraction - new immigrants demonstrated their loyalty by renouncing the language
and the customs of their home countries. When they gathered together, they were criticized.
Only since the sixties of the twentieth century has this been considered permissible and acceptable
For immigrants to stick to their cultural heritage.
This new understanding examined and expanded the nation's perceptions of kibbutzim
On the question of American identity. The definition of citizenship has moved from belief in culture
common for the adoption of common ideals. Since the seventies she has helped
Multiculturalism fosters an unprecedented degree of public tolerance towards
National and racial differences and a new respect for dual identities (ie, identity
American and country of origin identity).
In certain circles a rigid form of multiculturalism was forged, which called for a challenge
about the need for immigrants and members of other minority groups to identify with the people at all
America. Towards the end of the past century, some researchers believed that being an American
It only means participating in the pursuit of wealth and stability. But now, not this one
Only that the push for unity will surely tilt the ethnic balance of the nation back
In favor of the American side of dual identity, he can also sabotage forms
The extremes of multiculturalism. In the worst case scenario, he might as well
To dampen the appreciation of diversity that characterizes the nation.
"Historically, war and the crises attributed to it have always played a role
Central to the building of a nation," said Gerry Gerstal, a historian at the university
Maryland. Before the American Civil War, for example, Americans spoke
About the United States in the plural ("the United States are"), because every country
was considered a distinct unit in itself. Only after the purgatory of war
The public began to refer to the nation in the singular ("the United States is").
The United States is currently experiencing a sense of national unity that transcends borders
racial and national. External threats to any country tend to consolidate the
collective identity and encourage citizens to distinguish themselves from the enemy. but while
that wars and other national crises served as a catalyst for unification
A diverse population, they also provoked some of the worst incidents of
Oppression against minority groups that the public attributes to the enemy.
Since the 11/XNUMX attack, there have been a significant number of hate crimes against
Arab-Americans and Muslims. Sikh Americans explain to the public that
Even their turbans and beards, they are not Muslims. President Bush visited
at a mosque in Washington in an attempt to create a deterrent against counter-retaliation
Arab-Americans. He showed that, at least this time, oppression during wartime is not
Will be done with government consent and approval. But Muslim leaders are already speaking out
About plans for Muslim women to change the way they dress, maybe to convert
Headscarves in hats and golf shirts that cover the neck. in my late
In September, Asha set foot in the head office of the New Health Department
York in an attempt to change her son's last name from Muhammad to Smith.
The disaster in New York and Washington and the talk of war is already accelerating
the assimilation of immigrants - in both negative and positive ways - into society
the american Many of the newest Americans go as far as to
show solidarity with their adopted nation. Pakistani taxi drivers
In New York they display the stars and stripes flag in their taxis. feeling
The shared fate gives many immigrants a sense of belonging to the community
National.
But the hardening of national identity also involves hidden shifts in hierarchies
Racism and nationalism of the nation. On September 25, at school
In Washington, eight black teenagers who had run afoul of the law expressed the
Their anger at Arab-Americans and their fear of them. At first the eight spoke
From the other side of the fence, thanks to what is known as racial profiling
(That is, thanks to the perception according to which people of a certain origin have a great chance
much to be criminals. In this debate the vast majority of blacks are
against any "racial profiling" that was always directed first and foremost against them).
In Southern California, a dark-skinned Moroccan immigrant took solace in the fact that many people
It is assumed that he is Mexican - a group that felt the attack only a few years ago.
Perhaps out of an ambition to prove and establish their acceptance as insiders,
who belong, and to distinguish themselves from the enemy, Americans belong to groups
A minority are sometimes the most eager to exclude those who are considered
For the new people from outside. An Arizona resident who was recently arrested on suspicion of murder
A Sikh gas station worker has a Spanish surname. When he stopped he announced
Aggressively in the ears of the policemen, "I'm a damn American all the way".
In World War I Poles and other Eastern Europeans were active
Especially in the oppression of German-Americans. In World War II there were cases
Philippines attacked Japanese-Americans.
The most disgraceful example of an entire American minority group being oppressed
Because belonging to the enemy meant arresting them in camps of about 110
Japanese-Americans (two-thirds of them American citizens) in the war
the second world No such measure was at all contemplated against German-Americans or
Italian-Americans. Before that, the outbreak of the First World War intensified
the already strong suspicion of Americans towards foreigners.
German-Americans, whose organizations worked vigorously to keep America
Neutral at the beginning of the war, they suffered from one of the group's dramatic reversals
Any nationality in American history: German language, culture
German, customs and even German food were attacked and banished. In 1918 almost
Half of the states in the United States have limited or eliminated instruction in the language
German. Some of them forbade citizens to speak German in public.
World War II, however, fostered what one researcher called
"Patriotic assimilation". At the end of the war, the new groups of immigrants were accepted
fully as ethnic Americans and not as members of separate races
and inferior. On the level of everyday life, the war was a shared experience
including, mainly for the 12 million men and women who served in the army, but also
To many of the other residents who shared in the loss, the lack and finally the joy
the victory. War films about the soldiers in the trenches did not try to blur differences
national and other but gave permission for the Americanization of the Irish soldiers,
The Jews, the Poles and the others.
African-Americans, of course, fought in each and every one of America's wars
They were not recognized as full Americans by any means when they returned from the war. but
At the end of World War II, blacks for the first time saw the buds of
Integration, a process accelerated in the years after the war. Just as the units
Japanese-Americans in World War II had ownership units
The most military decorations in American military history,
Many black soldiers aspired to express and prove their "Americanness".
The same way shows courage above and beyond.
War can also breathe new life into public appreciation of values
dear to the country. "It requires the formulation of American ideals, of
The things that America believes in," said Prof. Gerstel. exactly like that
that the need for greater security will sometimes conflict with the state's belief in rights
Widespread citizenship, the pursuit of unity is doomed to collide with an American ideal
Another - tolerance.
The author is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan policy institute
