Americaisameltingpot

Americaisameltingpot
America is a melting pot
“America is a big melting pot.” This is almost the only thing I can remember from the course “American Society and Culture”
I took at college. Now, even though over a decade has lapsed, the definition our teacher gave is still clearly written in my mind: the melting pot here means that people with different cultural and ethnical backgrounds immigrate to the States, live together, get mixed and build up this wonderful culture that we call American culture today. New York City. There, strolling along the famous 5th Avenue. Surrounded this huge sea of people from all over the world, I felt at ease with them, with myself and most of all with the world I was in. I did not feel I was a stranger or a tourist from another land; I just was part of it. The concept of a melting pot was further engraved in my mind when l applied to the business school. All the schools I applied to stressed that they had a great diverse student body and how this diversity would enhance the quality of education. And every one of them had an essay question on diversity.
I was excited because after all I would soon become a member of that diverse student body. Diversity is conducive to the learning environment. However, it is necessary for people in this environment to be open and receptive to things which are different from theirs. But this is the most challenging task to accomplish. Some of my friends, even after graduating from the top schools and working very successfully in some famous companies or universities, still feel like outsiders to American culture. This is perhaps because as minorities they know much more of American culture than the mainstream Americans know
of other cultures. This imbalance and almost one-way tape in understanding is surely the seamy side of the melting pot. We will never get to know about this unless we are really in it.
Americans today proudly describe their nation as a “melting pot?. This is largely attributed to the increase in interracial marriages and the ousting of the U.S. Supreme Court laws banning racial intermarriage in 1967. And with most universities integrating students from diverse nationalities, seems like the universities are putting much effort in doing away with those wicked seeds of racism and prejudice.
Hoooow-ever, interracial relationships are still among the most psychoanalyzed topics. Society still frowns on interracial marriages…describing them as relationships pegged on the lure of the exotic, as opposed to accepting them as relationships based on love and compatibility.
Stereotypes about interracial couples… especially black and white… never cease (black men perceive white women as trophies… black women marrying white men for social acceptance.)
We all are aware of certain inherent problems with interracial dating. For those dating interracially, would you still consider our America to be a “melting pot? if all you get when walking hand in hand with your spouse are some comic, surprising, and sometimes even vulgar reactions?
Correct me if am wrong but… much as we have come a long way, I think the society is still not completely mature to accept interracial dating. This is all because of racist and sexist stereotyping (the black man as the ultimate male sexual fantasy and Asian women as exotic and submissive sexpots). Such inaccurate and harmful stereotypes have for a long time been
influencing people?s dating habits … encouraging feelings of anxiety, inadequacy, out casting or stigmatizing certain races and ethnicities and thereby escalating resentment and animosity toward interracial dating.
Even though there have been success stories about people from diverse, and sometimes antagonistic worlds defying cultural bigotry and get married, the idea of turning America into a fully fledged “melting pot?isn?t sitting well with many.
Take interracial dating for instance… it seems somehow to be connected to immoral sexual acts. Ever tried searching on the Internet for …interracial dating? or similar search phrases? Many a times a list of pornography sites will come up, featuring sex between black men and white women. Apparently, when interracial dating is appalling to some, it is erotically stimulating for others. Strange “melting pot? huh!
Truth is such self-professed critics do not comprehend the soul-searching that goes into making an interracial relationship work. Interracial couples deal with far greater challenges than …regular couples?. Interracial Dating to say the least can be difficult. And the people who aren?t doing it mostly cause this difficulty.
Why impose your beliefs, ways of life and ignorance upon those who are free enough to date people from other cultures. Why do other people keep dragging other Americans behind in their quest to make the world one big happy family? Those who have embraced other races and cultures are the true Americans at heart.
Love loves all regardless of skin color or race or religion. Now that, IS a TRUE “melting pot?.。