How American are you?

When did your ancestors come here? According to Takaki, America has been diverse, long before the Puritans came here. The Indians had inhabited this land for over 1000 years before they were cut down to a minority. As well, not all the whites were here first. Spanish were living in what is today California since the 1400’s, before whites came there for the Gold rush. Blacks came here on a slave ship in the 1600s, long before the European immigration. From Los Angeles to Denver, to New York, America has a long, rich history of diversity. This is an excellent history book on multiculturalism in the USA. I almost felt like I was on a time machine while going through the book.

What I found shocking reading this book, was in regards to Thomas Jefferson’s views on blacks and Indians. One, I NEVER knew Jefferson was a racist. I was unfortunately surprised to learn such as thing about one of our founding fathers. As well, I found it ironic that while Jefferson thought slavery was wrong, he became one of the wealthiest men in Virginia by being a slave trader. (So much for “all men are created equal”)

Speaking of slavery, I was also interested in finding out that during the days of Colonial America, whites were slaves, too. So the slave system was first based on class, but then shifted to race, so that it would easier to distinguish who was a slave and who wasn’t. Even Jefferson wanted to abolish slavery, but would only do that once all his debts were paid off by the sweat of his slave workers.

Now, studying the migration of the immigrants throughout the history of America was very insightful, as each ethnic group had different values they brought here: the Chinese men would not allow their wives here at first, the Jews were the first white immigrants that had job skills, blacks migrated up north to move away from racism, only to find out it was no different than the south, Irish were able to blend in well to society because they were white and Christian (Catholic). I was also interested in learning that the Chinese helped build the railroads in the mid 1800’s. As well, most Chinese men got into the laundry business, because it required little capital to invest, and you did not have to speak much English. All they did, was draw a picture of a shirt, draw a picture of a coin next to it, so that when a customer came in, they would point at the poster to know what they wanted.

The other thing I liked about this piece, along with other history books I’ve read, is that it forces you to get a little creative in your thinking. You think, “Well, if this didn’t happen, would this other thing have happened? And if it did, what would things be like today?” So, for example, if many blacks didn’t fight in WWII, would there still be segregation today? I mean, the timing, after the 1940’s to push for equal rights was perfect, as most blacks were tired of how they were keeping America safe for whites, yet they (blacks) were not being allowed equal rights. During WWII, many blacks said, “Why are you willing to stop fascism in Germany, yet America isn’t willing to stop the problems of racism here?”

I do find it interesting how the old timers today, like Pat Buchanan, always complain about immigrants, because we did the same thing to other races and other countries. We walked into Mexico, and declared a part of their land as Texas, making many Mexicans feel like they were foreigners in their own land. We screwed many Indians out of their land, and then bellowed, “This is a white Christian nation.” We told blacks and Jews they couldn’t get jobs because of their race or religion, yet conservatives complain about the bias against them today. I don’t agree with the double standard, but what people like Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson complain about today, well, people like them were equally prejudice.

It is always interesting reading Takaki’s book, as I noticed a reoccurring theme about race: all races and immigrants were stereotyped and looked down upon as ‘lazy, criminal like, morally inferior, savage, etc.” It was called “Caliban”- a name from a Shakespeare play, called ‘The Tempest’. The same theme, though not always applied to race, is applied to other groups today, like gays, atheists, Muslims, and so on. It is only when people are educated about certain groups/peoples, that the prejudice and ignorance go away. Unfortunately, prejudice and ignorance seem to go hand in hand, as Takaki illustrates.

I would recommend this to history buffs. It is rather long, but what you learn is priceless. Whether you are Hispanic, European Asian or of African descent, this book is for everyone.