Being a second-generation American myself, I found the messages in both “The Next Generation Emerges” and “Immigrants in New York City in the New Millennium” of particular interest. My dad came to America about 30 years ago from Peru in search of a more successful life and someways down the road I was born. Though I was born here and am technically American, I’ve always considered my self Peruvian when asked about. However, that’s not to say that I don’t have my own identity as an American. I feel blessed that I can have multiple identities. As the second-generation born Russian woman in Kasinitz’s article pointed out I “like being able to keep and appreciate those things in my culture that I enjoy and that I think are beautiful, and, at the same time, being able to change those thing which I think are bad.” The result is a unique blending of identities like the one that is so often glorified through the image of a melting pot.

Though I think the melting pot image is an appropriate one, I disagree with how it has developed throughout our nation’s history. As Vecoli points out in “The Significance of Immigration in the Formation of an American Identity,” all too often the idea of a melting pot has been used to strip immigrants of their identities from their home countries. Instead of mixing together all cultures into a beautiful new American culture, the melting pot is used to force the assimilation of immigrants into a culture deemed acceptable by a hegemony.

It is true, Vecoli adds, that this old image of a melting pot is begging to fade and people are immigrants are now maintaining stronger ties to their respective cultures, but the end result is not there yet. I really like the image put forth by Horace Kallen of an orchestra where “ethnic group is the natural instrument… and the harmony and dissonances and discords of them all make up the symphony of civilization.” This is the ideal future that I think we should all strive for. One of the best parts of America is this blending of cultures in a way that no other nation can hope to compete with. And it is for the reason that I can’t quite comprehend why there seems to be anxiety throughout America over the idea of a declining white majority and an increasing mixed minority. If anything, this should signify that we are finally beginning to reach this end goal of a perfectly blended culture where the distinctions between majority and minority no longer exist.

I also found it really interesting in Kasinitz’s article how he illustrated the shift of mentality from first generation immigrants to second generation immigrants. The article mentions that second generation immigrants aren’t willing to settle for the jobs currently occupied by their parents. Most second generation immigrants see those jobs as “immigrant jobs” and would rather distance themselves from that mentality. I believe that this is a good thing because it means that firstly, they no longer see themselves as immigrants but in fact Americans with a dual identity, and secondly, by not settling for mediocrity, they are setting themselves up to be something more and will most likely significantly contribute to the progression of civilization as a whole.

Its almost exciting to think that our potential as a nation has not yet been reached. There is still so much left for us to strive for in terms of society and civilization. Granted, our ancestors strayed a little off track with their efforts at assimilation, but we now have the chance to create a new American identity through a blending of various cultures where there will no longer be a majority or a minority, but instead one people.