Growing up in the United States (I was born in Canada) I learned that this country is a “melting pot” where everyone mixed together to form one great nation.  I was taught to believe that it made no difference where you came from. Religion, race, or ethnicity was not consequential.  Everyone has the same chance and the same opportunity in America.

Where I was born was different.  I was told Canada is not a “melting pot.”  It is a mosaic where every group can co-exist.  I was shocked by that and happy to be in the United States.

Then I grew up.  As I did so I realized that the “melting pot” did not really exist except in the minds of dreamers.  Mexicans, Jews, and Blacks all had their own separate cultures and were kept separated by neighborhood.

Even after equal rights and affirmative action proliferated, the Canadian format of mosaic has accelerated.  Everyone is identified with his religious, ethnic, and cultural background.  Jewish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Afro-Americans, etc., etc., etc.  Every news media emphasizes everyone’s race, religion, and family national origin.

Consider these inexplicable contradictions.

• Miss America is not really an American because her family is from India.

• Julie Chen, host and moderator of THE TALK, CBS’s daily daytime talk television show had eye lid surgery to look more American.
• Our own president is the child of a White Christian American and a Black Kenyan and has been called an illegal president because he may have been born outside of the United States (despite his birth certificate).

• However, Senator Ted Cruz, whose mother is an American and father is a Cuban, was born in Canada but could legally become president of the United States.  He looks like a White American.

Meanwhile the rest of the world looks on and laughs.