Although the United States of America claims to be a land of equal opportunities, it is really evident that this is not always the case. There is this idea that become an American means leaving your traditions, culture, and beliefs behind, and becoming one with the “American traditions.” To be American you have to adopt their holidays, learn the language, and this is what many have adopted as the idea of what becoming an american is. I feel that even though we are all told that the United States is such a diverse country, but the people that live here are not as accepting as others would like to think. Anyone that is seemingly different, are told that they should change the way they are and become a part of this so called unified society.
In movies and songs a lot of the time you hear a very patriotic view on things, that America is the best, Americans are the heroes and everyone else is unappreciative of what we as a country do. In a lot of movies you see the struggle between american born citizens and foreign born, how people want them to become a part of our culture, but at the same time they do not accept theirs. Instead of welcoming them, they are persecuted for their beliefs and traditions, and they are mocked for their differences. This can be seen in the cartoon “Recently Discovered Wild Beast,” where an Irish American is put in a cage and almost on display for others to go see.
When looking at the cartoons, they really represent the idea that coming to the US and becoming “American” is not what everyone believes it to be.In the cartoon “Johann Schmidt JohnSmith,” it shows an Irish-Emigrant transitioning his shop to something more english/american friendly. It is almost like, to be accepted, you have to move americanize your traditions and culture. A lot of the cartoons show people trying to “fix” and “solve” the problem, but in reality all they are doing to throwing out the immigrants and treating them like outsiders. This can be seen in the cartoon “Regarding the Italian Population,” where fixing the problem is putting them in cages and throwing them out.
I feel that the approach many have to dealing with immigration, only leads to fuel the ongoing problem of racism. The idea of equal opportunities for everyone does not seem to the be the case, something that is represented in the cartoon “Uncle Sam Holding Nose,” and the idea that everyone is welcome is something very obvious. Even those that try really hard to be american and unified, in the end are still mocked for their differences.
Roxanna Rahgozar
