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Flavoring the American Stew

© Frank Monaldo

"America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming."
— Israel Zangwill, The Melting Pot, 1920.

Zangwill's observation is incomplete. America is not constrained to only the "races of Europe." Moreover, the "melting pot" metaphor implies too much of a smearing of differences into a dull, indistinguishable, uniform mass.

America is more of a simmering and delicious stew filled with tasty pieces. Three ingredients comprise the stew's broth and keep the separate tastes from spoiling the stew. The first necessary ingredient is the commercial underpinnings of society. Mutually agreed upon economic exchanges mellow the tartness of different tastes. The second ingredient is a culture of individualism and tolerance that respects differences. The final ingredient is that most Americans or their ancestors came to America as part of deliberate choice to accept the American political, economic and cultural structure. For most immigrants there is an eagerness to blend into the American stew.

Since the ancestors of today's African-Americans and Native Americans did not originally elect to become Americans, their contribution to the stew is more problematic. Nonetheless, these two groups have been part of America for so long, the savory tastes they bring to the stew are unmistakable.

Thus, in America one can witness incredible cultural combinations. It is not extraordinary to find an African-American teaching Korean martial arts to an Italian-American, or a Pakistani immigrant selling a Japanese-made car to a bi-racial American.

Recently a small attempt to sour the stew made the front page of the Washington Post when an organization of black businesses told white firms to keep their distance from Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is a winter celebration of family and culture invented in 1966 by Dr. Maulan Karanga, the Chair of Black Studies at California State University, to instill a sense of African-America cultural pride and solidarity.

One measure of the acceptance the holiday has gained is the extent that commercial firms are producing Kwanzaa products — everything from greeting cards to Kwanzaa candles. These transactions are the first step making the holiday part of the American stew.

Hoping to stop this assimilation and the loss of a lucrative market, the International Black Buyers and Manufacturers Expo and Conference, an association of more than 1,000 black-owned businesses, sent letters to companies like Hallmark Cards Inc. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. informing them that "Kwanzaa is sacred. Hands Off!" Although ostensibly this effort is an attempt to limit the commercialism of the holiday, there is more than

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