Hyphenated Americana

My friend Pen has an entry from the other day about which I felt obliged to remark, quoting Lou Dobbs (who, like many other pundits, is kind of a douchebag), who was in turn quoting Teddy Roosevelt:

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...

There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

and more:
"There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism.... There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else."

[note: the full quote was longer, but I didn't want to reproduce Pen's entire entry and the substance of the sentiment is unchanged.] Nice fiery rhetoric, isn't it? Makes you kind of get all jumbly with patriotism. Problem is that its bullshit.

First of all, the context of the quote was during a period when there was still a broad influx of Europeans immigrating to the US and in the midst of WWI. There is an understandably nationalist tilt to it. But it also makes clear one prevailing thought, which both Dobbs and Patrick argue persists today: if you don't assimilate, you're not just not an American--you're anti-American. But assimilate into what? What is this American culture which they are supposed to assimilate into?

Diversity has always been one of this country's greatest strengths. People from all walks of life can be found here, and bring to the table all kinds of experiences that make us what we are. To imply that those experiences--and wanting to preserve their significance to oneself and one's family--makes one somehow less of an American is itself one of the most unAmerican of thoughts. Even more sinister than this is the implication for those born in the US. Mexican-Americans, Chinese-Americans, African-Americans--they are none of them any less American than the born-on-the-4th-of-July, dyed-in-the-wool patriot who bleeds red, white, and blue. Should their patriotism be any less well regarded because their families didn't come to this country on the Mayflower, or because their cultural heritage is strong enough that it has survived through generations? Not just no, but hell no.

And what of those of us who are not "hyphenated Americans" but feel no less alienated by those who spout this nonsense and this "culture" they claim is America? Are we somehow less American because we refuse to subvert our individualism, because we hold dear to those things that set us apart from the blob that is this "American culture" we're all supposed to assimilate into? Again--not no, but hell no.

Dissent is the highest form of patriotism. It is because we love our country that we march on our Capitols, protest in the streets, and argue in the press, Congress, and before the Supreme Court. It is because we love America that we refuse to allow the title "American" to be defined by those that say that only the assimilated and the conformist can be a good American. It is because we love America that we fight to preserve that most American of values which has always made America great: freedom--freedom to be who we want to be, to be part of both our past and our future, to continue to contribute all that we have to offer to every facet of life in this country.

America has always been a diverse mishmash of cultures both old and new. Maybe its time Lou Dobbs did some assimilating of his own.