President Washington – Assimilation

 

February 11, 2019

Dear President Washington:

This past November I wrote to you, President Jefferson, and Mr. Franklin about immigration. You had stated that we would welcome those who “by decency and propriety of conduct appear to merit the enjoyment,” which I assume you meant the enjoyment of being allowed here.  At that time, I told you all that I would be back in touch regarding this topic and then I found another quote by you which in light of some new issues is even more relevant, so here I am again writing to you about this hot topic.  You stated on November 15, 1794 that:

[[T]he policy or advantage of [immigration] taking place in a body (I mean the settling of them in a body) may be much questioned; for, by so doing, they retain the Language, habits and principles (good or bad) which they bring with them. Whereas by an intermixture with our people, they, or their descendants, get assimilated to our customs, measures and laws: in a word, soon become one people.

In this quote, the one thing that stands out to me is that you were hoping for an intermixing with those who are here as either new immigrants or their descendants and to become assimilated to our ways. The key word is being assimilated, so we can become one people or as our motto says, “E pluribus Unum.” Well President Washington let me give you some idea what is going on today.

Today’s politicians use the would diversity which I would equate to the pluribus. We have an abundance of diversity of population which I don’t think even you could have imagined. This diversity can be seen everywhere. For example, while in New York City I saw an ATM (I will fill you in later on what an ATM is but be assured that Misters Franklin and Hamilton would find it fascinating.) with sixteen different language options which again is a lot of pluribus but it doesn’t lead to Unum. How can one assimilate if we make it easy for others not to?

Another recent incident involved a renowned television journalist Tom Brokaw. Mr. Brokaw made a remark that Hispanics need to assimilate better and make a better effort to learn the English language. He implied that it would only benefit them and in a sense, he was espousing your sentiments Mr. President. It appears we need that reason or impetus that binds us which makes us that melting pot and gives us the Unum in E pluribus Unum. Maybe language can be that tool which binds us because I know my father and grandparents when they came from Italy struggled to adapt but became part of that melting pot and they overcame obstacles and assimilated. They never abandoned their traditions and no one should ever forget from where they came from as you Mr. President imply, but just as my grandparents and parents did they should  all strive to become one, the all-important Unum. To this day, my family carries on the traditions which they brought from Italy but my generation are Americans all the way. The great variety of ethnic restaurants we have proves that one does not have to lose their ways and traditions and provide others with a culinary experience of other cultures.

President Washington, there is one other troubling aspect of the incident with Mr. Brokaw that I would like to write to you in more detail at a later time and that is what ever became of First Amendment Rights? Mr. Brokaw never expressed any hatred and was forced to apologize for his comments. He could not make his opinion known without taking heat from others. If opinions are subjected to this kind of criticism or rather censorship, how can a discussion on how to remedy problems begin?  We have become an apologetic society where we are forced to apologize for what someone else might deem the slightest insult or words of hate.  This limits the free exchange of ideas because people are leery of being taken down by their comments, which needs to be part of the discussion.

Once again, if people only knew what you and the other Founding Founders were thinking they would have a better idea on how to remedy our problems. After all, it was you along with the other fine gentlemen who started this crazy experiment called the United States and you all had the idea and vision on where we should be heading. Again, there is so much more to learn from you and the others.

Sincerely,

Andrew DeMarco

P.S. I am sure you join me President Washington in wishing President Lincoln a Happy Birthday.