Have European descents lost their ethnic identities?

America is known for coining the term “melting pot,” which is meant to describe the assimilation of immigrants coming to the United States in the early 1900’s and a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous. However, it seems in many ways that we are becoming a society that is trying to be too homogeneous. We all know that America is made up of many different races, cultures, and languages but most people hide their heritage under the American, socially constructed physical and linguistic standards, which are centered around European Americans. This puts a lot of pressure on people, especially those with nationalities from and around Europe, to let go of their original nationalities and fit into this Americanized mold.

As more time passes from when immigrants first arrived in the United States in the 1900’s, I believe most white American’s see their ancestral nationality being less relevant to their daily lives. This is because if you speak English, look white and no one can physically distinguish your nationality, then no one really cares where your great grandfather was from because you are just considered an American. As a result, most white Americans, whose ancestors most likely came from Europe and its surrounding areas, are becoming so Americanized that their heritage is disappearing. America is supposed to represent the land of the free for a society diverse in culture but it is more and more becoming the land of the homogenious whites.

I was born in the United States and although I know I am part Irish, Polish and Croatian, it is not an aspect of my life that I view as important. No one can tell by my appearance, how I speak or how I act, what my nationality is so it does not have any detrimental influence on my daily life. I also realize that I have no idea what most of my close friends nationalities are, besides them being white, which proves what little effect nationality can have unless it is physical. Although, I try to remain somewhat connected to my nationality by occasionally cooking food related to my ethnicity and celebrating fun holiday’s like St Patrick’s day, I find myself blended together with everyone else who looks white. Americans from or around the European area do not embrace their individual culture as a result of being “Americanized.” This suggests that one needs to look ethnic in order to be considered a different nationality other than American.

African, Hispanic and Asia American’s all have obvious physical features that make them look much different then the broad group of European Americans. As a result, their ethnicities play a much bigger role in their lives here in America. People can tell what nationality they are up front and therefore almost expect them to have certain behaviors, traditions, characteristics, and languages. Although they are “Americanized,” as well in some ways it is their physical differences that constantly reinforce their culture, which they then cannot ignore.

This makes me wonder if people from Europe and surrounding areas each had more distinct physical features then maybe different types of European Americans would embrace their culture better and not be one large integrated group.