dave1949
Super Star Member
Randy Bell: I think there is a lot going there in your comments. Yes, people came for a better life and religious freedoms. Those are ideals but they were also driven by a desire for commercial success.
In retrospect, we know that the land they settled was "blood land", it was stolen. We know that much of the commercial success was based upon "blood labor", it was slavery that enabled sugar, tobacco and cotton to become the commercial successes of the era. Our first president was a slave owner until his death. Jefferson's Monticello was run on slave labor and the profits of raising more slaves. We have glorious aspects to our history, but we need to cast a judicious eye on glossing over the not so glorious portions that enabled our very existence. I think we are no more guilty of that than many other lands, but it's good to be aware of it.
Of the many who came to our country, some were not welcomed as Americans. Those from Europe assimilated more easily to the American culture in part because they were largely indistinguishable physically from the Europeans already here, and they were not denied access to becoming Americans. The same cannot be said of Africans or Chinese and other Asians. As late as WWII, we did move the American Japanese into camps for the duration of the war. That is hardly treating them as Americans although many of those in the camps were born here. I'm sure it was a widely supported action by Americans of European descent.
Whatever discord exists today between ethnic groups, has a long history in our nation. It not a new thing happening just within your generation. It is not a new threat, it is a continuation of what always has been. Same story, different faces.
If you feel that newcomers to our society do not want to assimilate into our culture, a part of the reason is they may not see what they find as all that attractive. Logically, if our culture is head and shoulders above their own, at least in their judgment, it would be no problem for them to see the wisdom of joining in. Consider the negative things about our culture that they see: a pervasive drug culture that ruins many youths, a gun culture that fosters and celebrates violence, a moribund political system that cannot get out of its own way, racism, religious bigotry, an education system that has never conquered adequately educating the poor, declining health metrics, splintered families, shallow "Hollywood" values, and naked greed.
I'm more worried about "us" than "them."
In retrospect, we know that the land they settled was "blood land", it was stolen. We know that much of the commercial success was based upon "blood labor", it was slavery that enabled sugar, tobacco and cotton to become the commercial successes of the era. Our first president was a slave owner until his death. Jefferson's Monticello was run on slave labor and the profits of raising more slaves. We have glorious aspects to our history, but we need to cast a judicious eye on glossing over the not so glorious portions that enabled our very existence. I think we are no more guilty of that than many other lands, but it's good to be aware of it.
Of the many who came to our country, some were not welcomed as Americans. Those from Europe assimilated more easily to the American culture in part because they were largely indistinguishable physically from the Europeans already here, and they were not denied access to becoming Americans. The same cannot be said of Africans or Chinese and other Asians. As late as WWII, we did move the American Japanese into camps for the duration of the war. That is hardly treating them as Americans although many of those in the camps were born here. I'm sure it was a widely supported action by Americans of European descent.
Whatever discord exists today between ethnic groups, has a long history in our nation. It not a new thing happening just within your generation. It is not a new threat, it is a continuation of what always has been. Same story, different faces.
If you feel that newcomers to our society do not want to assimilate into our culture, a part of the reason is they may not see what they find as all that attractive. Logically, if our culture is head and shoulders above their own, at least in their judgment, it would be no problem for them to see the wisdom of joining in. Consider the negative things about our culture that they see: a pervasive drug culture that ruins many youths, a gun culture that fosters and celebrates violence, a moribund political system that cannot get out of its own way, racism, religious bigotry, an education system that has never conquered adequately educating the poor, declining health metrics, splintered families, shallow "Hollywood" values, and naked greed.
I'm more worried about "us" than "them."