The Positives and Negatives of E Pluribus Unum
Paula Persoleo
The core standards of America are founded, in principle, on the basis of its diversity and equality among citizens. Begin- ning with its Declaration of Independence, the United States distinguished itself from other modern nation-states by establishing a country of men who were different but equal. Yet, despite the unifying images America projects within and beyond its borders, the idea behind E Pluribus Unum does not resound as one might assume it would.
E Pluribus Unum was originally intended to be both a representation of the union of the thirteen colonies and an expression of the United States as a country formed by immigrants of many different backgrounds. Today, just the literal size of America would suggest the existence of a largely varied social atmosphere, even before one considers its influx of immigration from countries all over the world. In a way E Pluribus Unum-"out of many, one-is a contradiction. Many different cultures are represented within American citizenry and within the country's physical borders, and they remain distinctive. The outmoded idea of America as the "melting pot" has been replaced precisely because people are not going to disregard their first cultural traditions to adopt "American" ones. Rather, their differences tend to perpetuate separatist notions and delineate cultural groups as clearly as borders delineate the end of one country from the beginning of another.
I believe that there are many advantages to embracing the diversity America has within its borders. Members of different cultures within the borders of one nation can benefit from each other, for example, by learning more about themselves through their variegated interactions. However, I understand the history of the foundation of this country-that this country has not always lived up to its motto. E Pluribus Unum may show the United States to be a country formed of many different cultures, and it may suggest the equality of all people, but even today many people, especially those of non-European ancestry, are often looked upon as secondary or non-citizens and are placed in a socially subservient position.
Since September 11, 2001, various communities within the United States seemed to be uniting for a time, despite the differences that typically undermine the original intentions behind E Pluribus Unum. Especially in places such as New York City, which is known world-wide as a mecca of diversity within its tightly confined parameters, people have been embracing each other as "people" rather than as "members of cultures other than their own." But there has been a backlash as well, an increase in violent types of discrimination and prejudice in and near communities of Americans whose descent is Middle Eastern. Many non-Middle Eastern Americans blame all people who appear Middle Eastern as culpable for what happened on September 11. So the attention paid to culture, now, is based on the differences between Middle Eastern cultures and non-Middle Eastern cultures in America.
I wanted to explore how American citizens choose, especially after the events of September 11, to deal with cultures found within the United States that differ from their own. I chose to interview two people with strong, contrasting convictions about national identity and cultural differences. Although I have my own opinions about the problems that exist in making America work as a diverse national community, I wanted to challenge my informants' responses to my questions and observe their reactions to my thoughts. I also wanted to compare my data from these two interviews with data from Elizabeth Fernea's book Guests of the Sheik about Fernea's experiences as an American woman dealing with the rural Middle Eastern culture of southern Iraq. In her book, Fernea expresses her feelings towards Middle Eastern customs and habits, in particular those of the women in her studied community, and the changes that took place in her perceptions of them. Through this approach I hope to integrate my beliefs with the conclusion of my research.
My first informant was Lucy, a forty-five-year-old social worker whose nationality is Italian-American.1 She is a first-generation American citizen married to a man with various European lineages. I asked her to explain how she interpreted people from cultures that differ from her own. Her response simply was, "I don't mind there being anybody different. It's just when something happens [i.e. the events of September 11] that I start to bitch about them."
Unsatisfied with Lucy's answer, I asked her whether she considered everyone in America to be "equal." She quickly opened up: "How can we be equal? You've got people out there, they don't want to work, they're lazy. And then you have go-getters who go out there and work and get what they want." As a social worker, Lucy wanted to stress that she saw many people who, in her opinion, did not want to earn their livings, and she blamed that on their social upbringing. "They don't know any better, so they aren't ever able to help themselves get out of [their poverty-level conditions]."
I knew that Lucy was referring to the people who lived in the poorest section of the city in which she worked. To get her to expand her point of view to include people of other cultures, I asked her if she was including non-citizens in her previous response. "Well, they're living here and they have to abide by our laws, then I guess I am. But they're not much better [than those living in local slums]. They're only taking away jobs that these poverty-level people can use to get themselves out of it, and that's not fair. Sometimes they sneak across the borders, and they only send all the money they make home." I interrupted her to try to point out that many immigrants work here because they cannot afford to support themselves and their families in their own countries. Lucy replied, "Well, they shouldn't come here to do that."
I wanted Lucy to shift her perspective, so I asked her how she felt she would be treated as an American if she were in a different country. "Maybe not very well, depending on where I am," she replied. "I might be treated like their people, but I don't know about their customs or anything. I guess I would be treated like they were. I would hope so."
In light of the events of September 11, I asked for her opinion of Middle Eastern Americans and non-Americans in the United States. Lucy vehemently replied, "They all ought to be sent back to where they came from, and they shouldn't be allowed back. They don't belong here. You can't tell one from another! They all look the same, so get rid of all of them. This attack wouldn't have happened if they weren't here for so long." At this point I forgot that I was an interviewer, and Lucy and I argued for twenty minutes. As much as I wanted to stress that almost all Middle Eastern Americans were not connected to that event, she would not relent. To Lucy, American citizens whose cultures differed from her own were tolerable, unless she perceived them to be lazy or if they were of Middle Eastern descent.
At this point, with a fairly firm grasp of Lucy's views of American cultures, I ended my interview by asking her if she thought that there was any way for all of these different people who live in America to get along. She replied, "How can they get along? Everyone has different cultures, ways. You're not-it's not going to happen. Never. How can you get hundreds of different cultures to agree on something? You can't get ten people to agree on anything."
Exasperated and frazzled by my interview with Lucy, I went to interview Tom.2 Tom is a twenty-one-year-old college student majoring in communications. He is a fourth-generation American of various European lineages, but mostly of German and Irish heritage. His mother is a state representative.
I began my interview with him as I did with Lucy, by asking him to explain how he interpreted people from cultures that differ from his own, and again I got a short response: "I like that there are so many different cultures here [in America]. I think I'm pretty open to all of them."
I then asked him the same question about equality issues as I did Lucy. "Sure, everybody is equal. That's the law, isn't it? There are all kinds of laws now to ensure that equality prevails. Women, people who aren't American, everyone falls under the law anymore, and that's great."
I wanted Tom to analyze his response, so I pointed out to him that no one is born under the same social conditions, and therefore no one is equal to anyone else, even within members of his or her own society. To this he replied, "Well, that's true, but the opportunities are out there, and the laws are, too, so that's a help anyway. Even if people can't start on the same level, there's no reason for them to not be able to advance if they want to. I mean, if they work hard enough and they want it bad enough, and if they deserve to move up, then I think they will."
I asked Tom if he would include non-Americans in that statement, and he said, "Sure, if they deserve to be at the top, then that's great. I mean, they can't exactly get elected for anything, but they can do pretty much anything else. I've had a couple of professors who aren't from here [are non-Americans] and they've been fantastic. So sure, if they can do their job then I'm fine with that."
I knew that Tom had been abroad more than once, so I asked him how he felt he was treated as an American in those foreign countries. "Oh, I had the best time! Almost everyone was really great to be around, and the couple who weren't so great I just avoided. Granted, in London I got to speak English, and in Montreal I was fine because I knew French then, but I picked up on everything pretty quickly. I've been really lucky abroad."
At this point, I inquired how he felt about Middle Eastern Americans and non-Americans who reside in the United States, and he replied, "I don't know why everyone is making such a big deal about those people living here! If they've lived here for so long, then why should they be given any problems? Especially if they're Americans anyway! And if they're not, and if they really are in school, then what's the big deal? Even if [some] shouldn't be here, then those who should shouldn't be criticized or anything."
Tom seemed very open and, because I shared his attitude-although less optimistic about how the cultures interacted-I wanted to know in what ways he thought they could improve relations. He replied, "Well, I know that many people have problems with different kinds of people around them, especially now, like I said, with the Americans who came from the Middle East, but I think that we're [Americans are] doing a better job now dealing with different people than we have in the past. I don't know how else things can get better, though. I mean, you can only pass so many laws, and there always will be people who will get away with breaking them, but things aren't too bad right now."
Elizabeth Fernea also had a unique opportunity abroad, as she documented in her ethnography Guests of the Sheik.3 Her trip abroad, however, was for a full two years rather than for a week or a month. Fernea was apprehensive at best about leaving her culture behind to live in a rural Middle Eastern environment. Her handle on the Arabic language was faulty, and she was apart from her husband for the majority of her stay. She entered the situation in a negative fashion, and she was determined to keep intact her own customs as best she could, despite her environment. She told her husband, "If they can't take me as I am-if we have to make artificial gestures to prove we are human beings, too-what's the point?"4 But as she entered the rural Middle Eastern environment, Fernea's convictions wavered; immediately she felt like an outcast in the unfamiliar place and, more than anything else, she wanted to fit in. So she donned an abayah, improved her Arabic, and learned the customs of the women in the village. Two years later, after many fumblings with this culture that was so alien to her own, Fernea found it difficult to leave the women with whom she had bonded, confided, entertained, and learned. She came to a better understanding of their customs and beliefs, more than she thought was possible, because she opened herself up to the opportunity to develop understanding.
The way in which Fernea adapted to her surroundings makes me hopeful for the future of the relationships Americans have among people both within and outside of their own cultures. Fernea seemed so close-minded to her impending environmental shift at the beginning of the book, and yet the longer she remained with women who became close friends to her, the more she was able to let go of her former prejudices and include their unfamiliar culture in her own life. She realized that the women of Iraq, even those in the most rural of areas, were very much like other women she knew in America; they were resourceful and hard-working, articulate and intelligent, amusing and entertaining. They exhibited unique personalities in every possible way, and once Fernea realized this she allowed herself to open up to those parts of their lifestyle that really were different from her own.
It seems that the diversity towards which America strives is precisely what causes so many problems among its citizenry. It is difficult to allow various other cultures to "interfere" with one's own; the idea that other cultures can melt into one's own is more comforting to many. Yet many other people, especially those who have left the parameters of the United States, realize the impossibility of a true "melting pot" and embrace cultural behaviors and attitudes that are unlike their own. Both Elizabeth Fernea and my informant Tom learned to look beyond their personal cultural identities, without forgetting them, and accept the differences that surround them. I, too, have traveled outside of the United States and have discovered the advantages of being open to cultural differences. My experiences have allowed me to accept people on their own terms more easily than I would have were I not able to break out of my culture, even though only for a short period of time.
I wish others could realize that cultural differences run only so deep-Middle Eastern Americans have as much pride for this nation as do Americans of non-Middle Eastern descent. Nevertheless, I remain confident that time will ameliorate problems associated with cultural difference.
Notes
- Name changed to ensure anonymity.
- Name changed to ensure anonymity.
- Elizabeth Fernea. Guests of the Sheik (New York: Anchor Books, 1969).
- Ibid., 6.
Bibliography
Fernea, Elizabeth. Guests of the Sheik. New York: Anchor Books, 1969.