America’s Changing Tides of Acceptance
The melting pot. These are three words that America prides itself on. However the makeup of the American melting pot is quickly changing, leaving many aspects of different cultures, specifically language, in the dark.
Societal views in the past of assimilating to the American way of life caused many immigrant parents to not teach their children their native language. Now, as our society has become more accepting of cultural diversity, this is causing younger generations to feel tension within family ties, a loss of their culture, and a feeling of not belonging.
“A big part of it is people who used to speak a different language were not seen as American. They see and think that speaking English will have their child become more American,” said Ikram Toumi a Radio-Television-Film doctoral candidate here at the University of Texas.
To understand why parents did not teach their children their language stems back to the way American society used to be. If you were different you were not seen as American.
Toumi explained how Cesar Chavez stated, “During the Chicano movement in the 1970’s Hispanic people read Spanish newspapers covered by an English newspaper. The fear of the discrimination that they might face for reading a Spanish newspaper was so great causing such action to occur.”
Realizing why America “Others” a culture roots back to when America was founded. It stemmed from a fear of the unknown. The idea of having a person with less superiority take over what our white founding fathers had set into place did not exist. This fear forced all immigrants to accept American culture as a way life, and this acceptance became known as “Americanization”.
“My parents didn’t teach me Korean because they wanted me to learn English as a first language. They wanted me to be comfortable and successful with English in school. If that meant not learning Korean that’s the sacrifice they were willing to take,” said Jeanjoo Hwang, a Journalism student at the University of Texas.
The term “Americanization” is the catalyst that enabled much of the discrimination that we see towards other cultures. This factor can be seen as a reason why many parents of today’s culture do not embrace their native background and share it with their children.
“My mother who is Honduran, told me growing up as a woman of color she faced numerous counts of discrimination. She wanted me to be as Americanized as possible. I already had the skin color, which I find sad,” said Katherine Massey, a Radio-Television-Film student at the University of Texas. “My mom was even going to name me Isabella but since Katherine is more white that is the name she chose. She didn’t want me to have many ties to my Hispanic culture. My mother did not want me to experience racism the way that she has.”
Another huge issue amongst the children that do not learn their language is a feeling of resentment towards their parents. Many of these children wonder, how they embrace another country if they don’t embrace the heartbeat of it – the heartbeat being how they communicate.
Julius Zerwick, a Physics student of South African descent here at the University of Texas said, “Its difficult to represent your nationality if you don’t speak your language. A lot of times when I was growing up and I would tell people ‘I am South African.’ They would ask me if I could speak the language. When I replied ‘No,’ they would say, ‘You’re not fully South African then.’”
A common problem many children who do not speak their language find is not being able to gain a close connection with their culture. Many have feelings of animosity or wish there was something more that could only be gained with knowledge of the language.
“I do resent my mom for not teaching me Portuguese. My whole family resents her, my grandmother, my aunt, everyone. Even my mom resents the fact she never taught me. I feel like I lost a part of me,” Louise Glasper an Undeclared student at the University of Texas said.
In an effort to redeem her culture Louise is taking Portuguese classes at the University of Texas. She hopes to become fluent in her language, which will enable her to once and for all solidify her status as a child and a person of Brazilian descent.
Personally, growing up as a child to an immigrant mother from Brazil I constantly wondered why my mother never taught me her language. As a young child I constantly felt ostracized when I attended Brazilian functions. As a young adult people constantly ask me, “What ethnicity are you?” Forced to reply, I will say my mother is half Brazilian, and then my favorite part comes. “Do you speak Portuguese?” As the words slowly begin to come out I feel my heart drop due to the estrangement I feel with my culture.
An interesting aspect in this factor of resentment is the changing tides of acceptance amongst our culture. America’s past involving racial tensions influenced the reasons immigrant parents did not teach their children their language. However, in America’s new era our culture is moving towards acceptance of all multiculturalism.
“I hope there is a way to raise awareness of these old misunderstandings; times have changed. Our culture is not perfect but is changing every day towards a more accepting society,” Toumi said.
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