Assimilation and America

In response to Sue Lani Madsen’s Sept. 30 column “Nonie Darwish’s immigration tale embraces American culture.”:

It left me questioning what she believes counts as “American.” Madsen’s only guidance is to embrace assimilation and avoid multiculturalism.

What, then, must we do to be assimilated Americans? Can we continue to eat sushi, tacos, pasta, falafels and stroganoff? Can we enjoy pow-wows, hula, quinceaneras, and bar/bat mitzvahs? Should we condemn Spokane’s Deutsches Haus and AME churches as symbols of failed assimilation? Must we follow Darwish’s brand of evangelical Christianity to be true Americans? If we celebrate Oktoberfest, Chinese New Year, St. Patrick’s Day, Mardi Gras or the Day of the Dead, are we being multicultural and un-American?

My examples suggest that Madsen got it wrong: Immigrants don’t need to assimilate to some hazy notion of “American.” Rather, Americans acculturate. We incorporate newcomers who embrace our fundamental values of liberty, equality and democratic self-government (which are compatible with Islam). Madsen’s attack on multiculturalism paints Islam as un-American (just as her ilk once denounced Catholicism, Judaism, Buddhism, and even Mormonism as un-American), and she calls on Muslims to assimilate.

In this respect, Madsen’s views fits with a another tradition as old as immigration: a quivering, fearful, narrow-minded nativism.

Veta Schlimgen

Spokane