Quote (Black XistenZ @ Jan 8 2021 04:08pm)
This is just false. Back in the 19th or early 20th century, multiculturalism was not the ideal of America yet, assimilation was. Those Irish, German, Italian and Eastern European immigrants were expected to integrate into the American mainstream, not demand the American mainstream to accomodate them. You didnt have swaths of people in the media, academia or activist circles telling the mainstream how racist and insensitive it is to expect immigrants to learn English or shit like that. Back then, the ideal was the melting pot. Nowadays, the ideal espoused by liberals and most cultural institutions is that of a salad bowl.
Furthermore, you have to keep in mind two crucial factors when it comes to the eventual successful integration of these groups: from the 1920s until the 1960s, immigration levels to the U.S. were very low. This had the effect of forcing ethnic groups to integrate into the American society (if they hadnt already done so anyway). By contrast, nowadays, you have sustained, skyhigh immigration levels, communities are constantly seeing their ranks bolstered which makes it feasible to insulate themselves in the first place. The second factor is that integration or assimilation have a higher chance of success the smaller the cultural gap between immigrants and host society is. Even though people didnt perceive it that way back then, the cultural differences between Irish or Italians and the Anglo-Saxon American mainstream was not all that big. It was definitely smaller than the gap we are seeing today with African, Middle Eastern or South-East Asian immigrants.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-population-over-timeDoesn't seem that crazy to me...
I mean, Irish and Italians were Catholic whereas most of America is Protestant scum. Even then, the Irish and Italians (both Catholic) were at each others throats. As an example, my mom was forbidden from dating Irish people for years. Anecdotally, my Italian great-grandfather had to learn Russian just to work in the steel mills. His Italian accent caused him to get his ass kicked so he had to develop a Russian one to blend in because that was more acceptable for some reason.
America has never been a melting pot. That's a nonsensical myth and has no basis in reality. Traditionally, this has been peddled by hard-line immigration groups to justify their bigotry.