Thoughts on “The Melting Pot and the Color Line” by Steven Steinberg

In this essay, Steinberg address the idea of the melting pot, and if it truly exists in America. I found the end of the article quite captivating. Steinberg references Gary Nash and Orlando Patterson, who believe that once the melting pot has completely run its course, the result will be a utopia of misegenation, in which a hybrid utopian race, composed of all ethnicities will form. This fantasy, which would be many generations away, would ultimately end all racism, by essentially race itself. Upon reading this, I nearly instantly thought of what Adolf Hitler tried to do in Germany, creating a “utopian perfect race.” Of course, Hitler’s motives were extremely anti-semetic when compared to the views of Nash and Patterson, who both have aims to end once and for all racism. Still, I could not help but think of the circumstances of Nazi Germany, especially since the word “utopia” was brought up. Perhaps it is possible that Steinberg considered this too, since in the final paragraphs, mentions that the melting pot must occur on its own, without government intervention. (This could definitely be compared to Hitler; it was essentially government intervention to create a utopian race of people.) Steinberg addresses this point on a serious note, which infers that this entire idea of a utopian race is something that could be, and has been in the past, taken advantage of. In fact, he ends the essay with a rather important but relevant point: “Here we can take another lesson from history: the carrot, not the stick, has always been the more effective instrument of assimilation.” Steinberg also uses the metaphor of “pushing people into the melting pot” as a way of explaining that this type of mass assimilation cannot be forced. While Steinberg argues that assimilation is occurring, it is happening most slowly amongst the black American population, since, it could argued, that they currently have their own kind of “black culture,” which has originated in America. Unlike other ethnicities, who much either cling to or ditch their foreign cultures, blacks have developed a culture which there is no need to “leave behind,” because it is an American culture. Thus, blacks are among the slowest percentage of groups that intermarry, and that are assimilating as a whole.  This could be due to the fact the America today is as segregated as ever; this is in part due to the divide between “white culture” and “black culture.” While by law, whites and blacks are equal in America, they are still very much segregated, and discrimination is still present in our society. The example of African Americans is one in which assimilation into the “melting pot” cannot be forced. While the idea of misegenetic America sounds like a scenario for a science fiction movie, perhaps it could be the distant future for the country. In reflection, reading this essay has made me realize that while Americanization is taking place all over the world, in a way it is also taking place in America; immigrants who travel here are slowly but surely, as it is argued in Steinberg’s article, entering the melting pot.