The Malcolm Berko Blog

The media may unwittingly be promoting enmity and conflict among Americans of different backgrounds. I’m referring to the repetitious use of ethic identities as Cuban-American, Muslim-American, African-American and the like. This practice encourages ethnic groups to flaunt their ancestry in preference to their country. The frequent reference to groups such as Polish or Mexican-American prompts its members to insist “I’m Polish first and American second” or “I’m Mexican first and American second.”

            It wasn’t too many years ago when we were just plain Americans. Today some of us feel we need to call ourselves “American-Americans” to distinguish ourselves from African, Haitian, German, Asian or Cuban heritage. The emphasis on ethnicity, heritage or ancestry to recognize their exclusivity as an adjective Balkanizes our culture and emphasizes our differences rather than our commonality. This redundant emphasis on group ethnicity builds dangerous and palpable layers of hostility between Americans of different ancestry. It pits Mexicans against Asians, Cubans against blacks and is disrespectful to those who wish to be called simply “an American.” The difference of heritage in one reason social tensions will always exist; because heritage implies differences, differences imply superiority and superiority leads to dominance. The media’s tautological use of heritage as an adjective caresses the veneer of social harmony with sandpaper. The repeated use of African-American or Cuban-American to identify oneself is perceived by many people as “it’s better to be an African or Cuban first and American second.”

            Many ethnic groups now wear their ancestry like epaulets, spawning rivalries between themselves and competing ethnicities while alienating mainstream America . And when a group’s identity becomes a refuge for its members, its social, political and economic goals become antagonistic, intractable and self-centered. Rather than a collective, common agenda that would benefit a majority of Americans, various groups with their self-centered ambitions compete against each other for America ’s limited resources.

            There are no winners in this covetous competition for ethic recognition and dominance. The losers are legion and their failures to control political, social and economic policy is reflected in their vigorous personal resentment and loud discord in the public arena. The metaphorical American “melting pot,” which was once a wonderful bouillabaisse, is now a caldron of indissoluble and irreconcilable differences.

            We are the only country in the world to encourage ethnic separatism as feel-good social policy and feel-good politics. Can you imagine a Haitian-Dutchman, an African-German or a Mexican-Englishman? Only in America do we acquiesce to an ethnic group’s instance on the use of ethnicity as an adjective. It’s irresponsible to flaunt ethnicity like a flag because it partitions millions of Americans into ethnic bunkers. Most of us have family who came to America from another country. They left their homelands for a better future in this country, and that you and I are here to discuss this proves that many of them succeeded. The failure to recognize that we are not hyphenated American but are Americans first is a dishonor to our country and millions of current and past citizens.