The Making of a Salad
As long as I can remember, I’ve thought of America as a melting pot. The term was popularized in the late 1700s to describe Americanization, where immigrants adopted American culture and abandoned their home country’s culture. But, recently I heard a new term from an immigrant who came here from South Sudan. “I don’t think of America as a melting pot, instead I see it as a salad,” said Tut Kailech, a community organizer for NeighborWorks Lincoln. “Refugees and immigrants come here and hold onto their culture, their way of doing things, the food and customs from home.”
Kailech was taking part in a E.N. Thompson Forum panel discussion “Displacement and Reimagining the American Dream.” The quartet of local students and young professionals who had immigrated from other countries included Reem Ahmed of Sudan, Dulce Garcia originally from Mexico and Anna Synya who came here from Ukraine as a young child. Karla Hernandez Torrijos guided the discussion. (I urge you to take the time to watch the video. It will be eye opening. )
My roots run deep in America going back several generations, so hearing stories from people who have just adopted our country was a real eye opener for me. One of the participants shared the joy of winning the “Visa lottery.” That’s a term given to the State Department’s program officially titled Diversity Immigrant Visa Program in which someone from another country enters her/his name and hopes to be selected to immigrate to America. That came on the heels of a comment that the immigration system of America really doesn’t allow for opportunity. Our very outdated immigration system needs to be completely updated and implemented by Congress.
Three of the four participants came from war-torn countries and they talked about survivor’s guilt. Synya commented about constantly checking her phone to keep updated on family back in Ukraine. Even though she’s been in the United States for many years, she still has family there. Several mentioned the conflict of enjoying life in relative comfort and safety while so many are living in daily fear. And for some, who more recently came from those troubled areas, they struggle with trauma.
Another point that I hadn’t ever considered is their feeling of representing their home countries. Most of us are relatively naïve when it comes to what’s happening in other parts of the world, what life is like there, and even the conflict that people are facing. And we’re surprisingly parochial in our understanding of other cultures. Perhaps you see them as either hard working and dedicated as I do, or hopefully not as lazy and working the system. So, when we meet someone from another country, accept them as an individual, fortunate to have the opportunity to be in America.
A term that has very different meaning for refugees and immigrants is the American Dream. For those of us who are fortunate to have been born in America, chances are that dream includes a good education, a rewarding job, a family and a nice home in the suburbs. But to many immigrants and refugees it means stability, it means safety, it means being open to answer a myriad of questions and hopefully an American society that accepts them for who they are, a contributor to society with a unique cultural contribution rather than expecting them to melt into Americanization.
