(REPOST)
I am reposting one of my earlier blogs that applies to this holiday season.
"Illegals are destroying the American culture." How often have I heard that rallying cry of the nativists? I hear it every day. I cannot go on-line and avoid it. Talking Heads of Hate are singing this mantra as another cheap trick to grab ratings. It is everywhere. It is an emotional rallying cry, that along with the other redundant chants, elicits fear among the criers that the unwanted from South of the border are determined to destroy the American culture.
But what is this American culture that is on the verge of extinction?
Is it a concrete and sacred thing that can never be changed? Or is it an ever evolving thing that has always been changing with the newest influences adding and bettering the accumulated body of work? I argue that it is the latter of the two.
A perfect example for my argument is a recent column in the Tucson Star written by Maria Elena Salinas. Salinas shared with the readers her family's bi-cultural Thanksgiving.
My mother was the best cook ever. (Unfortunately, that's one trait I didn't inherit from her.) The menu for Thanksgiving was pretty traditional. Turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cornbread and pumpkin pie. My mother did give it a twist when it came to preparing the turkey stuffing, mixing it with a Mexican flair.
All across the country on the night of Thanksgiving, there are immigrant families who give their meal a taste of their home country — after all, nostalgia and nationalism usually start with the palate. But whether they are adding hot sauce, rice and beans, yucca or mofongo, at the end it all means the same thing. It is part of the assimilation process.
Whether one mixes their holiday celebration with Mexican flair or any other flair is not a threat to "American Culture." People bring to the table what they have to bring to the table. In a nut shell, that is what American culture is all about-the accumulated things from all who have sat at its table. America is not a closed table. With every new group who sits at its table, there will be new offerings to add to the mixture.
If my mother were alive today, I'm sure she would be spending hours in the kitchen preparing a huge turkey, maybe throwing in a couple of extra jalapeños, and reminding us how lucky we are to have a job and a meal. We might even have enough for leftover turkey tacos. She would say, "Mija, demos gracias."
The comments that followed reflected the fear, anger, and rejection of the contribution of this Mexican flair. It was quite comical.
treyu j.(treyu)was quick with his/her trigger with:
"Whatever Maria. My parents were mostly Irish, but we didn't have a big to do about eating potatoes.
I run the other way when anyone tells me I have to embrace something."
Then there was this gem from Jeffrey H (flibber):
"What's the value of third world cultures that have produced ignorance and poverty other that it might be yours? One doesn't have to be self-hating to reject a particular ethnic culture, just self-actualizing and less tribal."
The hate is there. The mere mention of having a jalapeno with the great American cultural experience of Thanksgiving is sacrilegious to some. We cannot mix south of the border flair with our Thanksgiving and destroy our culture. Can we?
Let's look at the slow motion replay monitor.
First, potaotes are indigenous to south of the border. Yep, those yummy potatoes are an indigenous food from South America. They were brought to Ireland in recent history.
Big deal?
How about those scrumptious sweet potatoes? They are a staple at my Thanksgiving table. Know where they originate? It is thought that the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)has its origins in the area between the Yucatan and Venezuela. Another Thanksgiving staple originating from south of the border.
Did we covertly start the destruction of American culture thousands of years ago? Seems like it if adding south of the border flair to Thanksgiving is an indication of its destruction.
Nothing like a fat slice of pumpkin pie to top off the feast. Know where the pumpkin comes from? No, not from Charlie Brown's pumpkin patch. I mean where did the first pumpkin come from? Evidence shows that pumpkins most likely originated in what is now Mexico about 7,500 years ago.
Talk about a long planned conspiracy to destroy American culture. We are some clever people.
We also have corn at our feast. We all know the story about where maize comes from.
What would Thanksgiving be without the turkey. The turkey is indigenous to North America. It was first seen by Europeans on this continent in Mexico.
So why are people upset over someone mentioning having a jalapeno with their Thanksgiving feast and then eating left-over turkey tacos when almost everything in the feast originates from south of the border?
Which brings me back to the question of what is American culture? If Thanksgiving is a sacred celebration of American culture and it includes many indigenous foods that have their origins south of the border then one must acknowledge the indigenous contributions to this American culture that obviously did not begin with Pilgrims stepping ashore on Plymouth Rock.
American culture has existed in the Americas for thousands of years. It has been greatly impacted, dominated and forever altered by the European influences of politics, religion and its perceptions of morality, monetary structure, and nuclear familial relationships, just to name a few of the many influences of change.
These changes were not set in stone to be permanently applied to all following descendants. We no longer kill witches; have indentured servants; enslave Africans; kill Indians for their land; treat women as property and deny them the right vote; or segregate African Americans in an apartheid south. American culture does change. It does grow. It does improve. It is ever evolving for the better.
Immigrants, legal or illegal, are not destroying the American culture.
Salinas also added this in her column:
For years, there has been a misconception about the way immigrants adjust to their newly adopted country. Some believe that because they speak their own language or embrace their own traditions, passing those things on to the new generations, they are not assimilating. Too often, that leads to discrimination and a rejection of immigrants, who end up being treated as invaders. But what those people don't understand is that assimilation does not necessarily mean leaving behind your culture or your language, but actually embracing a new one.
With every embrace there is a physical exchange that can leave all involved better from the experience. With past embraces the American Culture has added pizza, egg rolls, curry, tacos, salsa-the food and music, acupuncture, herbal remedies, kindergarten, hip hop, and countless other ingredients that have spiced up the American cultural experience.
Now that is something I can firmly embrace.
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