GOVT 329 Discussion Board 3
The question of whether America is a melting pot or a salad has been debated for years.
In the last few years numerous traumatic events have taken place that have brought many serious
cultural and racial issues to light and need to be addressed. With these events in mind leads me to
believe that America is a melting pot.
We all know America was created by immigrants and immigration is a part of what
makes America exceptional. Murray states that “The pre-Revolutionary American setting
rigorously selected immigrants to have many of the qualities that the Founders depended upon to
make the Constitution work” (Murray, 2013). People from all over the world have flocked to
America in hopes of leading a better life. With that comes many different cultures and
backgrounds in one country. Part of what makes America exceptional is the dedication to
protecting every American’s civil rights and liberties no matter where they come from. However,
a common issue immigrants and minority groups in general face is that they are expected to
adapt to the dominant norms of American culture and in a sense part ways with their original
culture. Berray states that “this unnecessary burden of expectation imposes on both the dominant
and the minority culture the need to converge, becoming more similar over time. Not only is
such an expectation unrealistic, it sets the tone for discriminatory legislative policies by
eliminating programs aimed at helping minorities” (Berray, 2019, p. 144). I believe that this
melting pot logic has contributed to the long-standing issue of racism in this country. Seagrave
states in his article “The longest-standing fracture in American culture and politics has been the
divide between white and black, a divide that persists today despite changes and progress over
the course of American History” (Seagrave, 2020). The melting pot theory heavily promotes
American unity, but in reality it is driving the country apart. Berray says it best when he states
“The assertion that [we are all American] and claims that statements like [a black man being shot
by police officer] is racially inflammatory, disempower the African American community to
advocate against racial bias and discriminatory social policies that disenfranchises them. This
logic minimizes the fact that we all belong to different races, with diverse and unequal historical
experiences that cannot, and should not, be easily subsumed into a single American melting pot”
(Berray, 2019, p.144). America clearly has some work to do when it comes to recognizing their
faults in the racial divide and fixing what needs to be fixed in order to restore and maintain peace
in this country. The best way for America to draw from its many cultural influences to contribute
to American exceptionalism and move forward from racial issues is to embrace that this country
inhabits a plethora of people from all over the world with different backgrounds and recognize
their values. They should also be creating opportunities for minority groups to thrive in this
country. Berray states “Societies that strive to be multicultural should create incentives and
opportunities to engage with the full spectrum of identities within their midst. Recognition of
ethnic minority values and the opportunities to integrate cultural practices in day-to-day life will
reduce the cost of tradeoff between forming social ties among immigrant and minority
communities, and full participation in the economic and social life of their communities”
(Berray, 2019, p. 148).
References
Berray, M. (2019). A critical literary review of the melting pot and salad bowl assimilation and
integration theories. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 6(1), 142-151.
doi:10.29333/ejecs/217
Murray, C. (2013). American Exceptionalism. [Liberty University Online Bookshelf]. Retrieved
from https://libertyonline.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780844772653/
Seagrave, S. (2020, July 15). Pursuing Unity: Race and the American Story. Retrieved
September 17, 2020, from https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/08/19898/
REPLY 1
Hello Jack, I really enjoyed reading your discussion board post for this week’s assignment about
the debate of whether America is a melting pot or salad. I have to respectfully and
compassionately disagree with you on your view that America began as a salad. However, I do
agree with your view that modern America is a melting pot. I support your statement that the
diversity in America is and will continue to be a great strength for our country. Despite our pride
in the country’s diversity, there has and continues to be the issue that immigrants and minority
groups in general face. The issue is that they are expected to adapt to the dominant norms of
American culture and in a sense part ways with their original culture. We hear all the time about
how people have come and continue to come to our country for a better life, but part of
integrating into the life of America even in the beginning, meant adopting the norms of the
dominant culture and less use of their cultural norms. Berray states this adaption “involves
blending lifestyles between immigrants and hosts, converging within and among themselves to a
common lifestyle that continues to evolve over time” (Berray, 2019, p. 143). While yes I agree
with you that it did evolve over time, I do not believe that America started as a salad because
even in the beginning there was an expectation of adaption to the dominate culture for
immigrants and other minority groups in America. I believe that for it to have been a salad the
dominate American culture would have to been more appreciative of the individual contributions
that each group made to society in a way that surpassed the influence of the dominant culture
(Berray, 2019). Overall, I found your post to be thought-provoking, extremely informative, and
well written.
Reference
Berray, M. (2019). A critical literary review of the melting pot and salad bowl assimilation and
integration theories. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 6(1), 142-151.
doi:10.29333/ejecs/217
REPLY 2
Hello Jeffery, I really enjoyed reading your discussion board post for this week’s assignment
about the debate of whether America is a melting pot or salad. I find your post to be very
intriguing because during my research I also saw a combination of the melting pot and salad
model at first. I agree that the idea of the melting pot occurs overtime as immigrants and other
minority groups integrate and assimilate into America. Berray states this specifically “involves
blending lifestyles between immigrants and hosts, converging within and among themselves to a
common lifestyle that continues to evolve over time” (Berray, 2019, p. 143). However, I believe
the deciding factor that swayed me to lean more towards believing that America is a melting pot
is that there was and still is the expectation of immigrants and minority groups adapting to the
dominant American culture. This is expectation is what I believe has and continues to contribute
to the racial issues in this country. Berray states “Not only is such an expectation unrealistic, it
sets the tone for discriminatory legislative policies by eliminating programs aimed at helping
minorities” (Berray, 2019, p. 144). All of these in combination have contributed to my belief that
America has and continues to be a melting pot. While I can somewhat see the other side of it
being a salad on the surface, I respectfully and compassionately state that America as a melting
pot is the more truer statement. I write this reply with respect and admiration for your opinions. I
found your post overall to be very informative and well-written. Keep up the excellent work!
Reference
Berray, M. (2019). A critical literary review of the melting pot and salad bowl assimilation and
integration theories. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 6(1), 142-151.
doi:10.29333/ejecs/217
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