The Melting Pot vs Diversity
Contributed by Marilyn Bennett
When I was a child, I was fascinated by stories of my grandparents coming from Norway to end up on a North Dakota farm. They were not only not given government help, but they had to prove that they had the resources to farm the land and be self-sufficient. Likewise, my other grandparents came from Irish ancestry but were not admitted until they could show they had the skills and job prospects not to be a burden on our county. All of these people succeeded and there were towns throughout the Midwest that had large numbers of Germans, Irish, Norwegians, Swedes and Italians. They all learned English and although we all benefited from the variety of food and traditions they brought with them, they became the True Melting Pot of America.
Growing up as a third-generation immigrant I learned to appreciate that most of my friends’ families had different traditions and religions. We all spoke English and managed to work through our differences. Then in my teens St Paul was getting a substantial black population and Minnesota was in the front of the fight for equal rights. We marched in front of movie theaters and drug stores to demand they treat blacks equally in the South.
We were "Minnesota Nice". Our neighborhoods were integrated in the 60's without a problem. I left Minnesota for many years and when I came back, I found that a large population of Hmong's had moved into my neighborhood in St Paul. This was a welcome sight for me as they seemed to be very hard working and enterprising people. The homes in my old neighborhood were well cared for, and I was pleased to see the large number of gardens. Having grown up gardening, it was a pleasure to see others enjoyed growing vegetables and surrounding the houses with flowers. The Hmong started businesses and quickly learned English.
A few years later I moved to the Mankato area and became involved with the resettlement of the Somalians through the Presbyterian church. The Somalians refused to enter the church, so the church had to rent an apartment to meet with the various members of the Somalia community. The older women told the church leaders that they were not allowed to talk to younger women unless one of the elders was present. They also insisted that the school set aside a special room for them for their prayers. The problem was that they did not want to assimilate. The city set up a room in a community building to teach them English and tried very hard to make them welcome into the community.
The Somalians purchased a building that had been a Baptist School for a Mosque. The Somalias kept to themselves and in fact, the women were not allowed to leave their homes unless they had a male to escort them. A woman in our neighborhood would come out to her driveway and walk up and down for her exercise as she could not go any further.
We soon learned that the Somali culture does not lead to assimilation into our predominantly Christian culture. Even though our county has become very secular, we still hold certain values that are not valued by the Muslim culture. For one thing, they do not have freedom of speech. They cannot speak against Islam, on pain of death. They have five prayers a day and so need to have school and workplaces accommodate them for prayers. They have a dress code for women and do not give women rights over her own body. Retaining this culture is a huge barrier to adapting to our American culture. Islam actually forbids assimilation with a non-Muslim. Since Islam rules every aspect of life, Muslims are very different from the other religious groups that have integrated into this country.
This has been my experience with the various groups of immigrants I have had contact with during my life. Diversity is fine, but if it does not eventually lead to assimilation into the melting pot of the unique experience of America it will only breed division.