Mr. Trump, Can You Define “Melting Pot” For Me?
My parents are the strongest people I know. When they were my age, their biggest worry was survival, whether they would live another day, or if the war would take their lives. So they escaped. At the ages of 14 and 17, my dad and mom left everything they knew, their homes, their language, their culture, and even some of their family, so that they could pursue better lives in America. The United States could offer them something that war-ridden Vietnam couldn’t: safety, freedom, and success.
The American Dream is the what draws in immigrants across the world. The ideal that with hard work and determination, immigrants will be able to lead prosperous lives in America. The struggle that immigrants go through in pursuit of the American Dream is evidence to its significance. My parents were willing to risk everything they had for the chance to be successful in America, and it paid off. However, by shutting down borders and not letting immigrants into the US, we are turning away people looking for a chance at happiness. The American Dream has been in circulation for decades, allowing people to see America as an idealistic place with welcoming acceptance. In the name of our culture and what we stand for as Americans, we must preserve this ideal so that our nation can continue to provide hope for those in need.
In reality, this dream will not be attainable for new immigrants. The xenophobia that even a minute number of Americans have still cause the closure of borders. Everyday, people are getting denied entry based on the stereotypes of their race. The idea of being different automatically makes even the most harmless people targets of discrimination.
There was a time however, throughout Obama’s presidency, when I personally saw how racial discrimination was beginning to fade, and Americans were more accepting of minorities. However, everything changed when Donald Trump was elected as President of the United States. His blatant hatred towards minorities exposed other Americans that agreed with him who were willing to suppress their emotions during the rise of minorities in Obama’s presidency. The fact that Trump has referred to Haiti and other African countries as “shitholes” and saying that all Haitian immigrants “have AIDS”, clearly demonstrates how he has no tolerance for anyone that is different from him, and his immigration policies prove that.
Most well known is his executive order that was signed in January of 2017 that allowed for President Trump to deny entry into the US from predominantly Muslim countries including Syria and Iraq. In addition, according to the White House website, under the subtopic of immigration the description states, “the President supports ending chain migration, eliminating the Visa Lottery, and moving the country to a merit-based entry system.” Although President Trump may have good intentions with the attempt to decrease unlawful acts and preserve jobs, right now, closing borders is not necessarily the best option. President Trump looks to end chain immigration and Visa Lottery immigration policies because he believes they, “randomly hands out green cards without any regard for skill, merit, or the safety of American people” as he said on January 30th during his State of the Union address (Ormseth). Despite the error in his facts about the current policies, his biased discrimination against minorities continues to discredit his opinion on immigration. According to the CNN article titled Trump Decries Immigrants from ‘Shithole Countries’ coming to the US, at an Oval Office meeting on January 11, 2018, on the topic of immigration, “One person briefed on the meeting said when Durbin got to Haiti, Trump began to ask why we want people from Haiti and more Africans in the US and added that the US should get more people from countries like Norway.” He asks why anyone would want an African over someone white, but the same question can be reversed. In his mind, being a person of color automatically makes someone inferior therefore more white immigrants should be let into the country over people from other nations. When in reality, that logic is flawed and millions are ready to protest his outdated beliefs.
Trump’s wife, Melania, is the perfect example to showcase Trump’s hypocrisy. She was born in Slovenia and immigrated to the US when she began modeling in New York as part of her job. Melania later became a citizen in 2006 after marrying the current president in 2005. Trump has no problems with immigrants that are white and from Europe, as he clearly stated in his Oval Office meeting. He speaks shamelessly against allowing more immigrants of other races into the country, but ignores the fact that his own wife was just like many of the immigrants trying to come to America only two decades ago.
Our country is led by a uneducated bigot who believes that he is doing the right thing by shutting out other races and ethnicities. Ignoring the fact that he clearly doesn’t know anything behind the actual policies he is trying to repeal, Trump also doesn’t understand the value of immigration, what it did for our nation, and what it can continue to provide. America was built by immigrants, those leaving their country in pursuit of a better future in the New World. Trump may believe that he is qualified to think of himself as “more American” because he has had many generations of family in America, however, the success of our nation surrounds the fact that our country is a melting pot of a variety of cultures.
Daniel Griswold most accurately summed this up in his article Immigrants Have Enriched American Culture and Enhanced Our Influence on the World when he said, “Successive waves of immigrants have kept our country demographically young, enriched our culture and added to our productive capacity as a nation, enhancing our influence in the world.” This idea of being a melting pot for the rest of the world is what allows for a better nation. As a world superpower, the value of understanding many perspectives is more necessary in comparison to some other nations. How can we support other countries without truly knowing what their lives are like? The benefits of immigration include the opportunities to get a better understanding of the whole world without having to leave the country. Young children will be able to grow up surrounded by people with a wide range of backgrounds to turn into adults who are more culturally aware and welcoming of diversity.
I used to pretend I wasn’t a first generation American. Not necessarily because people made fun of me for it, but because I felt different and was afraid that people wouldn’t accept me. If I had seen more diversity in my school or if I had felt that my peers, even in 1st grade, would openly accept my differences, then maybe I wouldn’t have been so insecure about my heritage. The importance of being culturally aware extends further than the personal benefits. It can change the dynamic of relationships, making a more inviting environment for people of different cultures to share their stories. It took me some time, but in this day and age where people are fighting back against the injustices that Trump promotes, I am especially proud to be Asian-American.
My parents were some of the lucky ones. They were able to immigrate safely and fulfill the American Dream. There are millions of people today who are in the same position my parents were 40 years ago, trying to leave their native countries in search of the stability and freedom that America provides. However, if we continue to close borders and halt immigration, our country will be moving backwards in time. The nation’s culture is built around the influences of a variety of people, all providing the best of what their nation has to offer. We must allow our culture to grow and flourish. We must promote acceptance of others. We must stand for what we believe and not let anyone, even the president, take that away from us.
