Melting Pot or Fruit Salad?

A lovely opinion piece by a high school junior about her experience and thoughts as an ESOL volunteer. DP

"I think my America is more like a fruit salad, with that nice juice that mixes at the bottom."

By Kimberly Hagan, a junior at Grady High School. Youth Radio Atlanta

youthradio.org: Last year, I volunteered to teach English to recent immigrants. A Mexican man came into the class and introduced himself as “Miguel.” “Michael?” the teacher beside me suggested. “In America, ‘Michael,’ the teacher stated firmly as if it were a correction. But Miguel was the name he was born with and the name his mother would yell into the streets to call him home.

Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, but I say renaming this man “Michael” is like sniffing a dozen long stemmed dandelions.

The teacher began explaining to the class the concept of a melting pot. “In a melting pot,” she said, “everyone goes in different, and comes out the same.”

I think my America is more like a fruit salad, with cantaloupe and red watermelon all thrown together, with that nice juice that mixes at the bottom.

Her melting pot sounded more like something homogenized, like one of those soups you get tired of after the first couple of bites. Cream of mushroom. Cream of broccoli. Cream of culture?

I’d rather have the fruit salad. And I’d rather call him Miguel.