Don’t Cover Our Melting Pot With Slimy Fruit Salad

My husband and I recently met a new VCU graduate. The young man is a native of southern Sudan and one of the Lost Boys. Today he is an American citizen and a registered voter, eager for his voice to be heard.

The story of the Lost Boys of Sudan is an incredible tale of suffering and human endurance. During the Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) nearly 30,000 children were orphaned or displaced when Islamist government forces descended upon and brutally wiped out Christian villages in southern Sudan. Young boys were able to escape into surrounding jungles. Others were away tending crops or herds when the pillaging occurred. Sadly, their sisters were rarely so fortunate.

The surviving children, some as young as 4, struggled to reach international relief camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Many trekked more than 400 miles. They slept in dense jungles, swam crocodile-infested rivers, and survived disease, animals, insect bites, and roaming bands of soldiers. At least half died on the journey.

The refugee camps were barely better. Food was scarce and conditions deplorable. In 2001, the State Department began resettling 3,800 of these young men in the United States. For most of the boys, their new lives were an intense culture shock. They knew little of electricity or indoor plumbing.

Yet, despite their traumatic pasts, every one of them shared the same dream: to get an education. With the help of organizations and individual Americans, some have completed higher education. Others -- now young men -- have had to work and attend school part-time. Many have become American citizens. And every one of them has striven to assimilate into this new culture to the best of his ability.

It has been a challenge. Unlike Hispanic immigrants, they are not offered bilingual education. Government offices and Web sites do not have alternate Sudanese-language instructions or forms. Learning English presented a steep hurdle that needed to be overcome quickly.

Americans of all ancestries are familiar with the classic progression of assimilation. Nearly every ethnic group that has come to this country has followed the same path.

The original immigrants arrive, usually uneducated and unable to speak English. They tend to live in ethnic neighborhoods and hold on to the culture of their native land. Their children, raised in America and fluent in the language, fare far better than the parents. By the third generation, children are well absorbed into the mainstream. Learning the language of any new culture is essential to assimilation.

A study from the Manhattan Institute released in May 2008, measuring the assimilation rates of immigrants, has many Americans concerned. Overall, immigrants to the U.S. assimilate fairly rapidly. Vietnamese, Cubans, and Filipinos experience the fastest rates.

Mexican immigrants, however, are not assimilating nearly as well. Along economic and civic lines, they assimilate far more slowly than other groups.

This may be due to the large number of illegal Mexicans who have little opportunity to advance. And, a significant number of Mexicans say they eventually plan to return to their native land. Since so many government agencies, stores, and businesses are now bilingual, some Spanish-speaking immigrants feel there is no need to learn English.

Whatever the reason, second-generation Mexican immigrants assimilate only a little better than their parents. Of all second-generation American citizens, those of Mexican origin have the lowest school attendance rates. And when employed, as a group they tend to remain in the lower wage-earning jobs.

In 1908, Israel Zangwill, an English humorist, wrote a play about U.S. immigrants called "The Great Melting Pot." Zangwill wrote, "America is God's Crucible, the great Melting Pot . . . Think I, when I see them at Ellis Island, here you stand in your fifty groups with your fifty languages and histories . . . into the crucible with you all! God is making the American . . . the real American has not yet arrived . . . .[H]e will be the fusion of all races."

All those new arrivals from many nations learned our language and they learned to share our belief in the goodness of this country. As each ethnic group assumed the mantle of America, so it has also contributed to it, weaving a rich tapestry that is unique unto the United States.

But some have demanded the forge be turned off. (Maybe to save energy -- who knows?)

Today's children are now taught that as a nation we more closely resemble fruit salad. Everyone is encouraged to retain his own individuality. No longer one, we are now millions of individuals with many languages and separate interests.

It's a funny thing about fruit salad, though. It doesn't last more than a day or two, even when carefully handled. The different elements of the salad begin to react and start deteriorating almost immediately. The pineapple becomes bitter, watermelon and cantaloupe become slimy, and the strawberries go limp.

If chopped walnuts are used, they are the only ingredient to retain their flavor and texture. In other words, individual components soon start attacking one another and in the end, the only thing left is a bunch of nuts.

Isn't it far better we turn the heat back on and pull out the crucible? We still have many immigrants from many new lands arriving -- and more than likely, they are an essential ingredient to God's plans to ultimately, one day, fuse the real American.

Contact Robin Beres at (804) 649-6305 or .