Duality of Identity

Personally, I’ve never really felt that my ethnic background has ever come into conflict with my American nationality. Technically, I am a third generation Italian-Lithuanian-American, and chances are no one would know this simply by looking at me or even by talking to me (unless, of course, if I were to tell a person my ethnic background directly). Of course, I do get the occasional “Gallotta? What kind of name is that? Italian?” type(s) of question(s) every once in a while, but not so often or to such an extent that I feel that this recognition of cultural heritage has undermined my American identity.

As far as immigrants are concerned, I do not believe that they should be forced to give up their ethnic or cultural heritage. Difference is what makes this country beautiful. With the exception of people of Native American descent, every one of us is either an immigrant or the descendent of immigrants. The amount of diversity found in this country exceeds that of almost every other nation on earth. In what other country can you ask the average citizen the commonplace question “what nationality are you?” and receive a response that typically includes several different ethnic, racial, or religious backgrounds?

That said, a person’s identity should never be jeopardized by the will of someone else, whether that someone be a person or society. A person should sever ties with their cultural heritage only if they willingly want to. Personally, I think it’s a good thing for immigrants (or even descendents of immigrants) to preserve their cultural heritage and keep their traditions alive. I think it’s so cool when I see people practicing their own cultural traditions. It brings diversity and interest to society, and is often times a valuable learning experience for most.

However, I do not believe that it is wise for immigrants to adopt an absolute cultural isolationist attitude either. By cultural isolationist I mean someone who immigrates to this country and does all they can to keep his or herself from interacting or immersing themselves in the culture of other groups within the country. This is often accomplished by restricting oneself to interacting only with people of their own ethnic group (although this is an ideal way for to ensure that their culture will be preserved), thus isolating his or herself from the greater population. In no way am I saying that immigrants should be forced to give up all or any of their cultural heritage, nor am I saying that they must adopt American attitudes, all I am trying to say is that once a person immigrates to America, they take on a pluralist identity whether they like it or not. A person is no longer German, but German-American; not Irish, but Irish American; not African, but African-American, etc. The identity of an immigrant is no longer attached to one nation or one pure race. Rather, an immigrant’s identity is one stuck in limbo; one is not accepted as being completely American, but at the same time one finds himself no longer able to identify wholly with their nation of origin. This is demonstrative of W.E.B. Du Bois’s notion of double consciousness. Like it or not, one leaves part of their cultural identity behind when they immigrate to the U.S. Furthermore, upon immigrating to the U.S., one no longer resides in their native land, which, by placing such great distance between oneself and one’s native land, further dilutes one’s cultural identity and makes one more “Americanized.” If a person is already becoming more American just by living in this nation, why try to restrict oneself to one’s native culture? Part of the experience of America or the whole “melting pot” scenario is interacting with and learning about different cultures. Furthermore, one is not forced to lose or give up anything from one’s own culture simply by exposing oneself to another culture or ethnic group; they can only gain from that experience, and I think that the new knowledge gained is something that is worth becoming more homogenized over.