American Like Me

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Essay 10

Essays 11-22

Essay 23-Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Themes

The United States as a Salad Bowl, Not a Melting Pot

In her comical essay about growing up in a welcoming community, Liza Koshy addresses the differences between viewing the United States as a salad bowl versus a melting pot:

People talk about the diversity of American culture as being this big magical “melting pot.” Which is a term that grosses me out. […] I don’t think my friends and I melted together into one cheesy goo. We weren’t a melting pot who forgot our differences. We recognized them loud and clear (114).

For Koshy, a melting pot suggests a homogenous blob where individual ingredients lose meaning and purpose. For other immigrants, however, this is exactly what they strive to achieve. Some immigrants—especially back when people frequently used the term “melting pot”—had no choice but to assimilate to American values and ways of life as best as possible. This often meant abandoning mother tongues and speaking only US English, abandoning native clothing and food, and being loud and proud about America. In this sense, early immigrants (and some contemporary immigrants) accepted the idea of a melting pot, where individual identity fell away so a national American identity might exist.

In contemporary America, and especially with the latest incidents of cultural upheaval tinged in racist overtones, immigrants and others with diverse racial backgrounds are upholding the rich heritage and ethnicities from which they stem. American Like Me pays homage to the richness of diverse backgrounds, and these essays encourage people to take pride in their heritage rather than feeling ashamed of their background or trying to bury it.

Koshy goes on to explain that her ideal term for what America should be is a salad bowl:

Some people use the mosaic instead of melting pot. And I guess it works a little better […] I think I prefer the term salad bowl instead. [My friends and I] were a salad bowl. A bunch of different ingredients all tossed haphazardly in a way that came together as something delicious (114).

With the salad bowl metaphor, Koshy underscores the overarching theme of this collection: the differences each American brings to the table based on background and identity, differences that include gender, race, sexual preference, and religion, among other things. By coexisting with each other’s differences, Americans end up complementing one another and making something colorful, powerful, and unique.

Survival as a Catalyst for Immigration

Joaquin Castro pays homage to his immigrant grandmother Victoria, a woman who came to the US from Mexico and worked as a servant for most of her life. Victoria wasn’t and isn’t political, despite her existence as an immigrant the US didn’t want. When she arrived in San Antonio, Texas, there were still signs above buildings saying dogs and Mexicans could not enter.

Despite Victoria’s apolitical nature, her daughter and grandsons are very political:

My mom’s fiery passion for politics, for taking injustice head-on through democratic means, was in stark contrast to my immigrant grandmother [who] never could’ve imagined that her grandsons would someday lead the American city that gave her refuge as a young, orphaned girl (298).

Castro notes the irony of the political/apolitical divide in his family lineage, but also speaks to the simplicity of this discrepancy. Immigrants, says Castro, come to the US because they want to survive.

The survival Castro references in relation to immigrants is a concept for which people seeking freedom used to praise the US. America was a land of opportunity, regardless of politics, skillset, or perceived value. Foreigners could come to America and, through hard work, make a new life and contribute to the idea of America. Now, however:

Many in government believe that America should fundamentally change its immigration laws. […] many argue that we should measure a person’s value before admitting them. What can they do for us? That’s the new standard (299).

By switching to this type of exceptionalism and exclusivism, immigrants like Castro’s grandmother would never have immigrated to the US. In fact, many of the notable forefathers of American industry—men who came to America with only a hope and a dream and through hard work and luck made names and fortunes for themselves—would have never received clearance to enter.

At the end of the day, says Castro, people come to America to live. They might be fleeing war, disease, poverty, prejudice, or a number of other ills, but they come to America because they want a chance to safely and freely live. The government should foster a space for these people. By doing so, government allows for industry, enterprise, and opportunity; it creates a welcome society, from bankers, maids, and babysitters to writers, congresspeople, and actors.

Stigmatization, or Perception Versus Reality

One of the major themes in American Like Me has to do with stigmatization. Stigmatization occurs when a person considers another person unworthy and/or lacking, and expresses this viewpoint through words or actions. Many of the essays detail childhoods and experiences where immigrants had to face others’ adverse perceptions. These perceptions were racist and xenophobic, and it took growing up, finding like-minded individuals, or experiencing the togetherness of community for immigrants and their children to see themselves as more than the sum of other people’s negative views.

Jeremy Lin details how he internalized other people’s perceptions and how he had to work twice as hard to dispel this stigmatization. Though Lin was born and raised in Palo Alto, California, rival teams often accused him of being a Chinese implant. Others just loudly assumed an Asian American had no place on the basketball court:

At public pickup games, I always struggled to gain respect from other players, or even get a spot on the floor to play. Coaches assumed I would be a second-string benchwarmer. I would watch guys on opposing teams argue over who got to guard me, because they thought I’d be the easy one (156-57).

Lin admits the perception of him as unworthy of playing basketball mentally—and then physically—harmed him. He internalized this xenophobia, racism, and prejudice and watched it shape how he played. It took a while for him to admit to himself that he deserved to be on the court as much as anyone else. Once he began trusting himself, he played better. In turn, this showed his doubters they were wrong in their assumptions.

For Joy Cho, stigmatization meant trying to force her Thai parents to be American no matter what; this meant cooking American food and adopting American mannerisms. These attempts were her way of ensuring her family fit in to a narrow definition of what it means to be American. One day, however, Cho realized she wanted to know more about her history. She embraced her Thai identity and now teaches others about her heritage.

Others, like Bambadjan Bamba, dealt with childish stereotypes: “They called me African booty scratcher and Kunta Kinte. They asked me if people wore clothes in Africa and if we slept in trees with monkeys” (33). Stigmatization like this caused Bamba, like others in this collection, to try his hardest at being American by abandoning his roots and his identity. He believed he wasn’t American and set out to strip himself of ethnic ties so others might perceive him as American and accept him. In time, Bamba learned his African roots are exactly what make him unique and American. He let go of other people’s perceptions and embraced the reality that his ethnicity richly adds to the definition of what it means to be American.