Trans-National America

“No reverberatory effect of the Great War has caused American public opinion more solicitude than the failure of the "melting-pot." The discovery of diverse nationalistic feelings among our great alien population his come to most people as an intense shock. It has brought out the unpleasant inconsistencies of our traditional beliefs. We have had to watch hard-hearted old Brahmins virtuously indignant at the spectacle of the immigrant refusing to be melted, while they jeer at patriots like Mary Antin who write about our "forefathers." We have had to listen to publicists who express themselves as stunned by the evidence of vigorous traditionalistic and cultural movements in this country among Germans, Scandinavians, Bohemians and Poles, while in the same breath they insist that the alien shall be forcibly assimilated to that Anglo-Saxon tradition which they unquestionably label ‘American’.” Randolph Bourne --  Trans-National America from Atlantic Monthly, 118 (July 1916), 86-97

    In “Trans-National America,” Randolph Bourne discusses the failure of the “melting pot.” As Professor Murdaco points out, Bourne was writing before the United States entered World War I, therefore his essay has an anti war feeling to it. I found Bourne essay smart, compelling and even relevant in America today. It is very interesting to note that many of the same issues immigrants faced in 1916 are still the same. Bourne argues that Americans at the time were not “melting” into one homogeneous group, as it was predicted. At the time there was a believe that all immigrants would assimilate to the American Culture and America would become a melting pot. But as Bourne points out, people did not take in considerations the fact that assimilating is a very complex matter. It was true then and it is true now that not all immigrant want or can assimilate. And as Bourne discussed forcing it, just make it the allegiance to their home country intensify.        The issue with the Melting Pot idea is that Americans then and now want the immigrants to assimilate into their culture, but never expect to assimilate any part of the immigrants’ cultures into their own. I personally have many conflicts about the idea of assimilating. It is a tall order to ask for someone to give up his or her cultural essence. Our ethnic values are what make us who we are, and therefore without it we loose our sense of self. Bourne knew this in 1916 and argued that America should not expect people to embrace their culture entirely, but instead listen to what the immigrants wanted and respect their feelings. He brilliantly points out that Americans never assimilated to the Natives who were here first, but instead asked for freedom to be themselves.    
    There is no debate that for many immigrants living in America, like myself, especially if one has been here for many years, that both cultures become increasingly part of us, meshing into a new culture. That is mostly positive, except that there is a certain feeling of not belonging to either culture at some point. Most immigrants have particular ideologies and practices that are so unique to our culture and those are rarely lost.  For instance, my children feel they are Americans, but they also have a certain “closeness” to their family that many of their friends find strange. That is because it is part of our culture for our children to live with their parents until they get married; to visit their parents or grandparents every weekend, and usually have their parents move in with them when the parents get elderly.    Bourne essay was filled with hope. Hope that the new generations of Americans would be more accepting and inclusive of other people’s culture. Bourne’s hopes of inclusiveness unfortunately never really happened. It seems that America become more and more prejudiced and immigrants have been experiencing discrimination to this day. The generation of immigrants who were being discriminated against then, are now the “real” Americans, and the ones discriminating. America is still struggling with accepting and celebrating differences, and that seems even more important now then before.