The “Melting Pot” is Failing: a Soon-to-be Insider’s View
HE SHIN
On May 15, a video of a man verbally abusing several Latina workers of a Manhattan restaurant surfaced online and sparked a national outrage. The man, later identified as Aaron Schlossberg, berated the women for speaking Spanish and threatened to call the ICE to deport them. Schlossberg received numerous forms of backlash for his actions, some as humorous as people hiring mariachi bands to play outside his law firm, and some as severe as an online petition to have him disbarred garnering over 9,000 signatures. A week after the video was released, Schlossberg posted a public apology via Twitter saying that “what the video convey is not the real me” and that he loves the diversity offered by the immigrants and their cultures. But with more footages of Schlossberg’s racists actions from the past surfacing, the public still remains skeptical and irate.
Some may say that the 2016’s election of President Trump and his nationalistic campaign has promoted xenophobia and other forms of discrimination to slide into normalcy, and incidents like these display how American xenophobia and racism is increasingly becoming more open and apparent. This indicates that the American society has never been free of racism, unlike what some has always claimed. In fact, President Trump’s pattern of behavior throughout his campaign speeches offers a level of justification to those that harbor ultranationalistic views, whether it be anti-immigration, Islamophobia, or anti-semitism. Racism has never had a more instant outlet like social media. Now, contents related to racism go viral within just a few hours of its upload.
As a student planning to continue higher education in America, I find the recent open xenophobic sentiments and public anger aimed at people of color worrisome, while both online and offline solidarity of people against discrimination relieving. The incident at the Manhattan restaurant can be regarded as a passable conflict between several parties in a public space; however, considering people’s reactions and opinions online, the essence of it regards the discussion of defining an “American” in the US and what it’s like to be a member of the POC community. It is undeniable that this discussion is something that I will inevitably have to participate in during my experience with the American society as a foreign student. Schlossberg is not the first person to be so openly hateful of minorities and won’t be the last. Just a few months ago, I remember reading about a white woman harassing an African-American family having a barbeque, ABC’s cancelling its number 1 show “Roseanne” after its star Roseanne Barr twitted a message deriding the former president Barack Obama and his former senior adviser “the offspring of the Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes,” a woman calling the cops on two Native American teens during a Colorado college tour because she thought they looked like they didn’t belong, and a white elderly woman verbally assaulting a Korean student studying business at UC Berkley for speaking Korean at Starbucks store. Watching videos of others verbally harass people of color, I am beginning to think that people like Schlossberg are becoming more enthusiastic and less shy about expressing their offensive opinions towards those they deem “different” and therefore “unworthy” of being considered as an “American,” or possibly even “unworthy” of being in US. We are witnessing so many Americans still failing, or perhaps refusing, to embody the “melting-pot” ethos of the US that it so proudly boasts, despite being in one of the most racially and culturally diverse countries in the world.
As difficult it may be, I think the best way to solve this issue is to educate the younger generations to be more welcoming and acceptable of their peers of diverse races and cultures they bring to the table. No one is born a racist. People are molded into a racist by their parents’ racist views, by watching the disenfranchised images of POCs on mass media, and by growing up in fear of how the law enforcements profile them. Because racism is so heavily ingrained into the society we have now, it is crucial for us to mold the future generations into an accepting one. The younger generation should be exposed to this kind of education not only in classrooms but also within their families, mass media, and so on. They should be constantly reminded that a person cannot be debased based on their skin color or the language they speak.
The fact that intolerant people, as shown in Schlossberg’s video, are less hesitant about verbally and physically assaulting others for being different is disconcerting. However, hopefully, more people will find the courage to step up and defend the members of the minority, much like how everyone else quickly came to the Latino employees’ defense. We should refer to incidents like these to remind ourselves that being an American does not depend on our skin color or native tongue because what lies beneath the foundation of America that we all know, are the blood, sweat and tears of immigrants from all around the world of different races and cultures.
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/22/us/aaron-schlossberg-attorney-racist-rant-apology/index.html
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/22/us/white-woman-black-people-oakland-bbq-trnd/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/business/media/roseanne-barr-offensive-tweets.html
