(AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American

(AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American (AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American (AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American (AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American (AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American (AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American (AMERICAN CULTURE) The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American

CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION The population of the United States includes a large variety of ethnic groups coming from many races, nationalities, and religions such as English, Irish, German, Dutch, Italian, African, Asian and etc Most of these groups have experienced various degrees of prejudice and discrimination as they have gone through the process of assimilation and managed to achieve social mobility Today, U.S society is multicultural, although the extent to multiculturalism carries significant political repercussions It makes the United States has a unique culture that is interesting to be discussed The topics below will discuss how those races assimilate to the ‘Big Culture’ and describe how several groups became part of U.S society, as well as Civil Rights movement in the United States 2 I Definition Definition of ethnic Ethnic is used for referring to people that have the same culture and traditions from a particular ethnic group (within a larger or dominant national or cultural group) Individuals who identify with a particular ethnic group share the values, interests, language and confine their interpersonal relations to group membership Definition of racial Racial is used for relating to a particular race of people or something that existing, connected with or occurring between people of different races Definition of assimilation Assimilation is the process by which many groups have been made a part of a common cultural life with commonly shared values As a society undergoes assimilation, differences among these groups decrease II Different term to indicate America Melting Pot Literal meaning: The Melting Pot is the original fondue restaurant where guests can enjoy several fondue cooking styles and a variety of unique entrees, salads, and indulgent desserts Figurative meaning: As we mentioned in Chapter 1, some have described the United States as a 'melting pot where various racial and ethnic groups have been combined into one culture The Melting Pot was a welcoming place for those of European descent They were the broth (or the base) that constituted what everyone else had to conform to It would be easy for one to distinguish between a broth and a non-broth item If you 3 wanted to fit in and be a full member of American culture, you hoped to become the broth This can be seen within the Irish The Irish were initially big pieces, out of place in this melting pot As time went on, however, the Irish were faced with an enticing offer If they chose to align with the Democratic Party and assimilate, they would be allowed to melt into the pot fully and be treated as equals and “white.” Their assimilation into this pot would end their oppression in America and allow them to claim a sense of belonging in the society The blacks, on the other hand, were chunks that could not be melted into this pot at all They were bones perhaps, something that one did not want in the pot to begin with They were not meant to fit into society, just to be used as slaves and considered to be property The Melting Pot theory requires that immigrants assimilate in order to become one common culture American Example: Gulliver from Johnathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels is one example of a character whose travels take him to societies that also conform to the melting pot model Like the Irish, he chooses to assimilate with the people that he comes across in his travels (or at least attempts to as much as possible.) This can be seen in the adoption of the customs of the foreign land he sets foot on and the rejection of his English identity in the process Salad Bowl Literal meaning: dish consisting of green, leafy raw vegetables, often with radish, cucumber, or tomato, served with a dressing Figurative meaning: United States - the various groups have remained somewhat distinct and different from one another, creating a richly diverse country ‘Salad bowl’ suggests that it might be a more inclusive and accurate representation of how America’s culture developed Unlike the Melting Pot, which is homogenous, the Salad Bowl is a heterogeneous mixture This heterogeneous mixture was something that we were taught to promote diversity, as it allows one to recognize the individual identities that contributed to the whole of American culture This concept, however, was more optimistic or idealistic than they realized Perhaps the 4 Melting Pot theory is historically accurate because of how its problematic nature reflects the problematic way in which American culture developed Upon its analysis, it more accurately and frankly addresses the injustices of the time, instead of sugar coating it in the way that the Salad Bowl attempts The "Salad Bowl" theory basically calls for us to celebrate our diversity along with our oneness Example: Since 1776, an enormous amount of racial and ethnic assimilation has taken place in the United States, yet some groups continue to feel a strong sense of separateness from the culture as a whole Many of these groups are really bicultural That is, they consider themselves Americans, but they also wish to retain the language and the cultural Traditions of their original culture Mosaic Definition: "Cultural mosaic" is the mix of ethnic groups, languages, and cultures that coexist within society The idea of a cultural mosaic is intended to suggest a form of multiculturalism, different from other systems such as the melting pot, which is often used to describe nations like the United States' assimilation Characteristics: People are more tolerant of other: • • • • • • • • • • • • Better for immigrants People are allowed to practice their own culture People are more likely to learn English People feel welcomed There is more recognition to minority groups The ideas from diversity of view-points will strengthen the host country A greater chance that the immigrants will fight for their host country Attempts to create unity through differences Provides the public sense of free speech Democratic Can help separate conflicting groups Economically beneficial to immigrants and the host country Example: In Canada, however, the cultural mosaic is present, where any and all cultures to enter Canada are embraced and have a separate and respected place in the 5 culture In a mosaic, all different cultures are present and recognized in different aspects of society III The establishment of Dominant Culture What is Dominant Culture In societies where there are different kinds of people, one group is usually larger or more powerful than the others Generally, societies consist of a dominant culture, subcultures, and countercultures A dominant culture is a cultural practice that is dominant within a particular political, social or economic entity, in which multiple cultures are present It may refer to a language, religion/ritual, social value and/or social custom These features are often a norm for an entire society It achieves dominance by being perceived as pertaining to a majority of the population and having a significant presence in institutions relating to communication, education, artistic expression, law, government and business The concept of "dominant culture" is generally used in academic discourse in fields such as sociology, anthropology and cultural studies The culture that is dominant within a particular geopolitical entity can change over time in response to internal or external factors, but one is usually very resilient and able to reproduce itself effectively from generation to generation In a polycultural society, various cultures are celebrated and respected equally A dominant culture can be promoted deliberately and by the suppression of minority cultures or subcultures The census of America population 2.1 Population structure: In practice, the first census of the new nation, conducted in 1790, counted about million people, most of whom were white Of the white citizens, more than eight out of ten traced their ancestry back to England African Americans made up a surprising 20 percent of the population, an alltime high There were close to 700,000 slaves and about 60,000 “free Negroes.” Only a few Native Americans who paid taxes were included in the census count, but the total native American population was probably about one million 6 2.2 The Majority rule It was the white population that had the greater numbers, the money, and the political power in the new nation, and therefore this majority soon defined what the dominant culture would be At the time of the American Revolution, the white population was largely English in origin, Protestant, and middle-class Such Americans are sometimes referred to as “WASPs” (white Anglo-Saxon protestants); however, many people now consider this an insulting term White Anglo-Saxon protestants Their characteristics became the standard for judging other groups Those having a different religion (such as the Irish Catholics), or those speaking a different language 7 (such as the Germans, Dutch, and Swedes), were in the minority and would be disadvantaged unless they became assimilated The Dominant Culture grew out of the Nation's History The Dominant Culture in a society is the group whose members are in the majority or who wield more power than other groups In the United States, the dominant culture is that of white, middle-class, Protestant people of northern European descent There are more white people here than African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, or Native Americans, and there are more middle-class people than there are rich or poor people Differences between rich and poor The dominant American culture that grew out of the nation’s early history, then was English-speaking, western European, Protestant, and middle-class in character It was this dominant culture that established which became the traditional values described by de Tocqueville in the early 1830s Moreover, Americans believed that these newcomers would probably give strong support to the basic values of the dominant culture, such as freedom, equality of opportunity, and the desire to work hard for a higher material standard of living 8 IV The assimilation of different groups of immigrants into the main culture The assimilation of Non- Protestant and Non- Western European 1.1 Overview America used to be a colony of Spain, the Netherlands, France, and Britain These people soon brought their culture to America Through a process of cultural exchange and integration, the unique cultural identity of the American was formed Until the late 19th and the early 20th century, a third wave of migration broke out in the United States, reaching the number of millions These people mainly came from poverty-stricken nations of southern and eastern Europe They spoke languages other than English, and large numbers of them were Catholics or Jews The immigrants, therefore, were accepted in the United States with some threats 1.2 Demographic data of the immigrants arriving the US in the late 19th – the early 20th Between 1850 and 1930, about million Germans migrated to the United States, peaking between 1881 and 1885 when a million Germans settled primarily in the Midwest Between 1820 and 1930, 3.5 million British and 4.5 million Irish entered America Before 1845 most Irish immigrants were Protestants After 1845, Irish Catholics began arriving in large numbers, largely driven by the Great Famine After 1880 larger steam-powered oceangoing ships replaced sailing ships, which resulted in lower fares and greater immigrant mobility In addition, the expansion of a railroad system in Europe made it easier for people to reach oceanic ports to board ships Meanwhile, farming improvements in Southern Europe and the Russian Empire created surplus labor Young people between the ages of 15 to 30 were predominant among newcomers This wave of migration, constituting the third episode in the history of U.S immigration, may be better referred to as a flood of immigrants, as nearly 25 million Europeans made the long trip Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and others speaking Slavic languages made up the bulk of this immigration 2.5 to million Jews were among them 9 1.3 Anti-Catholicism in the US in the late 19th century Between 1840 and 1924, over 30 million European immigrants relocated to the United States Many were Catholic, hailing from as far North as Ireland, as far South as Sicily and as far east as Poland In a country established principally by Englishspeaking Protestants who traced their ancestry to Northern Europe, these newcomers often met with hostility and derision From the burning of Boston’s Charlestown Convent in 1834 and the rise of the single-issue, anti-immigrant Know Nothing party in the 1850s (an organization that, for a brief moment, controlled dozens of congressional seats and enjoyed extensive influence within the political anti-slavery coalition)—to the No Irish Need Apply signs of the 1890s—immigrant Catholics faced the brunt of Protestant America’s rage As the immigrant landscape grew more complicated in the late 19th century, social scientists and politicians began attempting to classify Americans with greater precision Whiteness, it now seemed, was a matter of degree, and Europeans fell into categories like “Anglo Saxon,” “Celtic,” “Hebrew” and “Asiatic.” Importantly, this move toward racial classification drew heavily on the emerging fields of modern biology and chemistry In 1911 the famous Dillingham Commission on Immigration attempted to reduce the mass of new immigrant groups to a simple five-tier racial scheme (Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethiopian, Malay and American) But it wasn’t always so simple In Volume of its lengthy report, otherwise entitled A Dictionary of Races or Peoples, the commission backtracked and acknowledged that the U.S Bureau of Immigration “recognizes 45 races or peoples among immigrants coming to the United States, and of these 36 are indigenous to Europe.” Critically, many scientists and social scientists (the Dillingham Commission experts among them) agreed that race was determinative of behavior, intelligence and physical endowment, and that racial groups could be arranged in a hierarchical fashion The Dictionary of Races or Peoples, for instance, characterized Bohemians as “the most advanced of all” Slavic race groups The Southern Italian, on the other hand, it deemed “an individualist having little adaptability to highly organized society.” 10 10 Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, preached black pride, racial separation, and a return to Africa By the early 1920s, Garvey had an estimated million followers, most of them Northern city-dwellers Harlem, an uptown New York City neighborhood, drew black migrants from the South Black commerce and culture thrived in Harlem After World War I, a group of black writers, artists, and intellectuals gathered there Like Marcus Garvey, many sought cultural identity in their African origins Unlike Garvey, however, they had no desire to return to Africa They found creative energy in the struggle to be blacks and Americans This gathering of black artists and philosophers was called the Harlem Renaissance Langston Hughes, a black novelist and poet, used the language of the ghetto and the rhythms of jazz to describe the African-American experience Jazz continued its development as a uniquely American art form in Harlem, where prominent nightclubs like the Cotton Club featured great jazz composers like Duke Ellington and Fletcher Henderson Their music lured whites uptown to Harlem to share the excitement of the Jazz Age Zora Neale Hurston combined her writing ability with her study of anthropology to transform oral histories and rural black folk tales into exciting stories The Depression brought many blacks and whites together for the first time In the cities, a half-million African- American joined predominantly white labor unions In the South, poor black and white farmers joined together in farmers’ unions In 1941, African-American author Richard Wright wrote, “We black folk, our history and our present being, are a mirror of all the manifold experiences of America What we want, what we represent, what we endure is what America is The differences between black folk and white folk are not blood or color, and the ties that bind us are deeper than those that separate us The common road of hope which we all traveled has brought us into a stronger kinship than any words, laws, or legal claims.” Today, black Americans make significant contributions to every segment of American society — business, arts and entertainment, science, literature, and politics and law Though issues of discrimination remain, African- American who still endures, achieves, and leads 16 16 V Contribution of the new immigrants to the American culture and economic In the late 1800s and early 1900s, millions of immigrants came from eastern and southern Europe, bringing cultural traditions perceived by the dominant culture as quite different By the 1920s, Americans had decided to close the borders to mass immigration, and the number of new immigrants slowed to a trickle However, in 1965, the United States allowed many more immigrants to come and entirely eliminating the older laws bias in favor of white European immigrants As a result, more and more new immigrants who are nonwhite and non-European came to the US About 90 percent are from Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean Many worry about what will be the effect on the traditional value system that has defined the United States for over 200 years? Can the American economy expand enough to offer these new immigrants the same opportunities that others have had? Ben Wattenberg, a respected expert on American culture, however, believes that the 'new immigration' will be of great help to the nation Economic In fact, immigrants contribute to the U.S economy in many ways They work at high rates and make up more than a third of the workforce in some industries Their geographic mobility helps local economies respond to worker shortages, smoothing out bumps that could otherwise weaken the economy Immigrant workers help support the aging native-born population, increasing the number of workers as compared to retirees and bolstering the Social Security and Medicare trust funds And children born to immigrant families are upwardly mobile, promising future benefits not only to their families, but to the U.S economy overall In 2018, the labor force participation rate of foreign-born adults was 65.7 percent, higher than the 62.3 percent rate for the native born, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics Some 27.2 million foreign-born adults, 63.4 percent of all foreign-born adults, were employed that year, compared to 59.8 percent of native-born adults 17 17 1.1 Immigrants hold jobs that are important to the economy Immigrant workers without a college degree make up a sizable share of the workers in certain industries Firms in such industries will have a harder time hiring staff if these workers can no longer come to or stay in the United States In March 2018, immigrants with less than a four-year college degree made up 10 percent of all persons (and 11 percent of all U.S workers) in the United States, but they reflected a large share of all workers in many important occupations and industries, according to Census data (See Table ) 1.2 Furthermore, immigrants help to provide business leadership in developing new products and industries A recent study found that between 1990 and 2005, for example, immigrants started 25 percent of venture-backed U.S public companies, employing more than 200,000 U.S workers And some of the companies at the forefront of the digital revolution were co-founded by immigrants: Intel, Sun Microsystems, eBay, Google, and Yahoo to name a few examples This entrepreneurial spirit is particularly important in the wake of the recent recession as we look towards the private sector to find new opportunities for growth and to create new jobs for American workers 1.3 Immigration also helps drive growth in certain industries In the housing industry, for example, slowing growth rates in the U.S.-born population mean that immigrant households make up a rising share of total growth in 18 18 U.S occupied housing Immigrants accounted for 8.7 percent of total growth in households in the 1970s, 15.7 percent in the 1980s, and 31.9 percent in the 1990s More recently, analysis of Census Bureau data shows, immigrant-headed households made up 39.5 percent of household growth 1.4 Immigrants are an important part of our international competitiveness, especially in technology-intensive and service industries Compared to U.S.-born Americans, immigrants are more likely to hold an advanced degree and are almost twice as likely to hold a Ph.D Many of our most productive scientists and engineers are foreign-born, keeping the United States at the forefront of global innovation In 2006, immigrants to the United States played a role in an estimated 24.2 percent of international patent applications Innovation leads to increased productivity for American workers and eventually a higher standard of living for all Americans Culture It can be said that the new immigrants greatly enriched the cultural diversity of the nation, and they ultimately did not cause major changes to its system of government, its free enterprise system, or its traditional values Moreover, according to Wattenberg, with the contribution of new immigrants, it is becoming the first universal nation in history The United States will be the first nation where large numbers of people from every region on earth live in freedom under one government This diversity, he says, will give the nation great influence and appeal to the rest of the world during the 21" century Perhaps the United States will be described not as a 'melting pot' or a 'salad bowl' but as a mosaic - a picture made up of many tiny pieces of different colors If one looks closely at the nation, the individuals of different colors and ethnic groups are still distinct and recognizable, but together they create a picture that is uniquely American 'E Pluribus Unum' - the motto of the United States from its beginning means one composed of many: 'Out of many, one.' 19 19 VI The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics 1.1 Muslim immigration in America As of 2016, there were about 3.3 million Muslim Americans living in America, comprising about percent of the country’s total population, according to estimates by the Pew Research Center Globally, there are more than 1.6 billion Muslims, spanning diverse countries, regions and ethnicities While Muslim immigrants to the U.S are frequently of African and South and Southeast Asian origins, and many come from Arabic-speaking countries The Migration Policy Institute notes that immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa (Muslim, Christian and other religions included) currently number about million, making up about 2.5 percent of all foreign-born residents of America Among the countries of origin within these regions, as of 2013, most immigrants hail from Iraq (201,000), Egypt (176,000) and Lebanon (124,000) The first wave of Muslim immigration in America occurred in the 17th century with the arrival of slaves from Africa African slaves from 10 to 15 percent were said to be Muslims Maintaining their religion was difficult and many were forcibly converted to Christianity Although enslaved people were denied freedom of religion, many did practice their faith in secret and pass it on to their children The next significant wave of Muslim immigrants began in the mid-19th century During the late 19th century until the 1920s, Muslim immigrants from the Middle East, particularly from Syria and Lebanon arrived in large numbers, with many settling in Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, etc Like most other migrants they were seeking greater economic opportunity than in their homeland and often worked as manual laborers At the same time, the Great Migration of blacks from the South to the North helped encourage the African-American Islam revival The re-emergence of AfricanAmerican Islam has been a consistent phenomenon during the twentieth century until the present The hope remains to restore the culture and faith that was destroyed during 20 20 the era of slavery Today, African-American Muslims constitute roughly a third of the American Muslim population After passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, America opened its doors again in 1952 and an entirely new group of Muslims came from the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and even Latin America The change in immigration laws allowed highly-skilled professionals to enter the U.S Islam is expected to soon be the second largest religion in America According to the Pew Research Center, about 3.3 million Muslims live in the U.S This compares to approximately 5.6 million Jews and 240 million Christians, the two dominant religions (About 50 million people are religiously unaffiliated.) But by 2050, Pew Research Center estimates, there will be at least million Muslims living in the U.S 1.2 The influence of Muslim immigration on American politics Since the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, political issues relating to Muslim Americans have filled headlines and more recently have been the subject of heated rhetoric and competing claims in the 2016 U.S presidential race On the tragic date, a group of inhumane people carried out an attack on the World Trade Centre killing 3000 innocent lives in order to defend the religion of Islam Prejudices against Muslims have risen sharply This sparked the phobia of Muslims in the hearts of many people ‘Islamophobia’ is a form of discrimination because it promotes prejudicial treatment, intolerance and hate to those who follow the religion of Islam Most American Muslims are deeply concerned about the problem of extremist violence committed in the name of Islam The overwhelming majority of American Muslims is well integrated into American society and reports criminal activity Over the past decade, 40% of domestic terrorism plots have been exposed or prevented with assistance from American Muslims Increasingly conscious of their own identity, America's Muslims wait for the day when their presence will be recognized, or as one Muslim hope, "for the day people will talk about America as Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim" Until the present, Muslims have not played an effective role as a community in the nation's political process However, they are beginning to understand the mechanisms that reinforce the American democratic system It seems reasonable to assume that they 21 21 will eventually achieve the participation and recognition that thus far has been denied them Recognition and participation will be the products of a mutual process in which Muslims seek to build bridges of understanding and co-operation, and in which leaders of other communities reach out to Muslims and learn to appreciate their contributions Such a process is slow and often difficult, but it is one that other communities have followed in the past, and many Muslim Americans see it as a natural and inevitable in a country based on ideals of freedom and equality As the American experience slowly shapes the different elements of the American Muslim community into a group of citizens fully responsive to those ideals, those same Muslim citizens will themselves increasingly hold their country accountable to their own aspirations for equal status The attitude of American 2.1 The attitude of American to immigrants In general, Americans hold a number of positive views about immigrants, but also have some reservations Overwhelming majorities of Americans believe immigrants are hard-working (87 percent) and have strong family values (80 percent), and a majority (53 percent) said that newcomers from other countries strengthen American society On the other hand, more than 7-in-10 (72 percent) also believe immigrants mostly keep to themselves, and a slim majority (51 percent) say they not make an effort to learn English Immigrants with these characteristics were welcome, because Americans partly believed that these newcomers would probably give strong support to the basic values of the dominant culture such as freedom, equality of opportunity, and the desire to work hard for a higher material standard of living Although immigrants who were like the earlier settlers were accepted, those with significantly different characteristics tended to be viewed as a threat to traditional American values and way of life Most of them came from poverty-stricken nations of southern and eastern Europe Americans at the time were very fearful of this new flood of immigrants They 22 22 were afraid that these people were so accustomed to lives of poverty and dependence that they would not understand such traditional American values as freedom, selfreliance, and competition There were so many new immigrants that they might even change the basic values of the nation in undesirable ways Americans tried to meet what they saw as a threat to their values by offering English instruction for the new immigrants and citizenship classes to teach them basic American beliefs 2.2 The attitude of American to Muslim Americans strongly affirm the principles of religious freedom, religious tolerance, and separation of church and state Ninety-five percent of Americans agree that all religious policies should be treated with respect even if we don’t share the religious beliefs of those who use them A majority (about 54 percent) of the general public agree that American Muslims are an important part of the religious community in the U.S., compared to 43 percent who disagree Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world The growth and regional migration of Muslim combined with the ongoing impact of the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) and other extremist groups that commit acts of violence in the name of Islam, have brought Muslims and the Islamic faith to the forefront of the political debate in many countries Yet many facts about Muslims are not well known in some of these places, and most Americans – who live in a country with a relatively small Muslim population – have said they know little or nothing about Islam Americans use a double standard when evaluating violence committed by selfidentified Muslims Islam is expected to soon be the second largest religion in America Since the attacks of 9/11, prejudice against Muslims has risen sharply Many Muslims have responded by becoming more active in the American political process, striving to educate their neighbors about their religion and history 55% in US Muslims think Americans in general are friendly toward U.S Muslims, compared with just 14% who say they are unfriendly 23 23 A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2017 asked Americans to rate members of nine religious groups on a “feeling thermometer” from to 100, where reflects the coldest, most negative possible rating and 100 the warmest, most positive rating Overall, Americans gave Muslims an average rating of 48 degrees, similar to atheists (50 degrees) Americans view more warmly the seven other religious groups mentioned in the survey (Jews, Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelical Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons) But views toward Muslims (as well as several of the other groups) are now warmer than they were a few years ago; in 2014, U.S adults gave Muslims an average rating of 40 degrees in a similar survey Republicans and those who lean toward the Republican Party gave Muslims an average rating of 39 degrees, considerably cooler than Democrats’ rating toward Muslims (56 degrees) VII Assimilation in Vietnam and the role of government in assimilation process in both counties Assimilation in Vietnam In the past, Vietnam was strongly influenced by two cultures which are Chinese culture and Western culture (In the 19th century, Vietnam experienced two wars with the French colonialists and the American dike) The period of Chinese culture infiltrating Vietnam was 1000 years ago, through many Chinese dynasties (Han dynasties) Western culture entered Vietnam from the sixteenth to the seventeenth centuries when western missionaries came to Vietnam As can be seen, Vietnamese culture has been influenced by both Chinese and Western cultures in many aspects Besides to providing policies to exploit the economy, they also offer policies to assimilate our people For more than 1000 years under the Northern domination, assimilation is one of the policies of the rule of colonial government The ultimate goal of feudal China was to establish in our country a social structure, a political institution, a farming method and a custom like China They carry out assimilation policies about politics and society, culture and ideology 24 24 In order to carry out the absolute assimilation, the Han emperors advocated not only migrating the North to the South but also spreading Northern ideology and culture to the Vietnamese Chinese was taught to the Vietnamese and it became a tool for assimilation The governments of the continents and districts of the Han dynasty allowed the Chinese to "live with the Vietnamese", marry Vietnamese wives to gradually erase the Vietnamese blood It can be seen how pervasive their policy is Specifically, they spread Confucianism into our country for the purpose of serving the domination needs of the northern feudalism Confucianism is a system of philosophical ideas, ethics, and governing institutions that appeared in China very early Right from the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism began to infiltrate Vietnamese society as a tool to enslave and assimilate our people in thought and spirit, to justify Dai Han '' heavenly – heavenliness lower '' and its fateful orthodoxy Moreover, the ruling class opened schools to teach and spread Confucianism in Vietnamese society and trained a contingent of Vietnamese mandarins to submit to the Han dynasty, like tools of henchmen for heaven The assimilation policy of the North left a quite deep imprint in other fields such as dress, clothing, accommodation, travel, production methods, social relations, voice, etc In order to fight against assimilation, to maintain and preserve cultural traditions, the Vietnamese: on the one hand, both reinforce the advantages of traditional culture to create the ability to resist effectively and drastically micro-aggression and assimilation; on the other hand, to perfect and develop the national cultural identity, including absorbing the advances of Han culture, enriching the traditional culture, and more adapting to the new circumstances In addition, Vietnamese culture has been quite deeply influenced by Western culture in many fields, both on spiritual culture and material culture However, depending on the time and place, Vietnamese people can accept or oppose, but always a flexible assimilation, receiving what is useful and changing to suit the personality, conditions and needs of people 25 25 The time of Western culture's penetration can last from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries when Western clergy came to evangelize Christianity In addition, along with Western religion, culture also entered Vietnam by political, economic, commercial, etc We can divide the time and circumstances of Western culture penetration into main periods: - The beginning is the penetration of Christianity - The period of colonial invasion and exchange with French culture (1858s – 1945s) - The period of exchange with socialist culture Max-Lenin - Current period, exchange with human civilization and culture So, we can summarize the effects of the two cultures on the Vietnamese culture in some aspects: China Buddhism: Western -It was introduced in Vietnam from the second century and developed prosperity in the dynasty of Ly Tran and became the official religion at that time Many pagodas, temples were built and still The Religion valid today France Vietnam, invaded introduce - The people of Vietnam are assimilated in Christianity, built churches awareness, always believe in the law of cause and they still exist today and effect of the Buddha - Many Buddhist festivals are maintained and promoted in Vietnam today (Huong pagoda festival- Ha Tay) Language -To govern the Vietnamese people, the Chinese -The information of the dynasties propagated Chinese writings in order to Quoc Ngu writing- the assimilate the Vietnamese origin of today’s writing -Vietnamese people have borrowed any Chinese -The formation of Vietnam writings to form Chinese- Vietnamese, also borrowed some contributing to the addition of Vietnamese Western words such as 26 26 language treasures radio, TV… The ideology of Confucianism has influenced the -The basis of class division awareness of the Vietnamese in education and examinations in - Family education: Children must obey, be filial Vietnam is now influenced Educatio n to their parents by the French education - Patriarchy: Highlighting the role of a man in the system family -France has built many - The woman must live up to the standards: school architecture and work- appearance- speech- behavior and these they still exist ideas still exist today Many dishes imported into Cuisine -The dishes originated from China and popularly Vietnam have been sold today in Vietnam such as dumplings, raisins, enjoyed by many effervescent, noodles, etc… became familiar Vietnamese dishes of generations of people in Vietnam people (especially young people) -Tea is a simple drink, the elegant pleasure of the such as pizza, bread, fast Vietnamese Traditional festivals in Vietnam today are from Festivals China such as Lunar New year, full moon in January, mid- Autumn, etc food, etc Christmas has become familiar in Vietnam Nowadays, we can meet this word which is used among cultures of ethnic groups in Vietnam or we actively absorb and integrate with other good cultures of many different countries in over the world There is great diversity in Vietnam’s ethnic groups One minority group, the Hoa (ethnic Chinese), is very well assimilated into Vietnamese culture, and are important in the Vietnamese economy Because of this, they are not usually considered an “ethnic minority” Others, such as the Hmong and Nung peoples, have agrarian livelihoods and remain strongly culturally connected to forests Vietnam’s ethnic groups can also be grouped by language The languages of Vietnamese peoples can be divided into 27 27 eight groups: Viet – Muong, Tay – Thai, Mon – Khmer, Mong – Dao, Ka – belt, Nam duc, Han and Tang 96% of ethnic minorities speak their mother tongue Despite having less access to education than the Kinh majority, ethnic minorities are represented as cadres and civil servants in the different levels of government, especially in provinces and cities There is, however, great variance between different ethnic groups in educational levels, particularly for literacy rates The average for the 53 ethnic groups is 79.8%, but literacy rates range from as low as 34.6% for the La Hu, while literacy for the Tho, Muong, Tay, and San Diu are at 95% The role of government in assimilation process in both counties 2.1 In Vietnam As a multiethnic country, it can be seen that the national policy of the Party and State is trying to change and improve the lives of ethnic minorities in mountainous areas According to the principle of the state organization of Marxism-Leninism, one of the functions of a socialist state is to ensure the harmonious settlement of the interests and good relations among ethnic groups The State implements a consistent national policy of equality, solidarity and mutual assistance among the ethnic groups, and prohibits all acts of ethnic discrimination and division They are trying to perfect mechanisms and policies to ensure all of them and help each other develop, create clear changes in economic, cultural and social development areas with a large number of ethnic minorities, especially in the Northwest, Central Highlands, Southwest and Central coastal regions In addition, they also have policies to improve the quality of education and training, the quality of human resources, take care of building a contingent of cadres of ethnic minorities and prestigious representatives in the ethnic community They strengthen the inspection, supervision and evaluation of the results of the implementation of the Party and State's national policies and policies at all levels Through periods of revolution, especially the renovation period, the national policy of the Vietnamese State has created a revolution for socio-economic development in mountainous areas and ethnic minorities 28 28 Over the past few decades, national policies have changed the face of our country's ethnic and mountainous areas from political, economic, social life to material, spiritual, and customary life We also can see that Vietnamese government always creates favorable condition for immigrant to Vietnam They appreciate the culture values immigrants bring to Vietnam 2.2 In US 100 years ago, the US enacted the harshest immigration law ever, and raged with controversy In 1965, the United States made important changes in its immigration law: allowing many more immigrants to come and entirely eliminating the older laws bias in favor of white European immigrants Advantages: Ben Wattenberg, a respected expert on American culture, believes that the “new immigration” will be of great help to the nation: o o The United States is becoming the first universal nation in history It is the first nation where large numbers of people from every region on earth live in freedom under one government o Giving the nation great influence and appeal to the rest of the world during the 21 st century Disadvantages: o The United States is now confronted with a new challenge – taking in large numbers o of new immigrants who are nonwhite and non-Europe The United States has significant numbers of illegal immigrants So, the law was rejected, the US government has more liberal policies to welcome immigrants and the US became the largest immigrant nation in the world They helped to assimilate large numbers of new immigrants into the larger American culture by finding them jobs and housing, in return for their political support On January 27 in 2017, President Trump signed the decree prohibiting temporarily immigrants from countries with the majority of the population being Muslim for 90 days, stop the US refugee program for 120 days and stop indefinitely 29 29 the reception of Syrian refugees But on February 3, federal judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington ruled to suspend President Trump's decree Since 2020, the new immigration policy of the US under President Donald Trump has greatly affected the US immigration plans and conditions This tightening plan not only affects Vietnamese immigrants to the US but also with many other countries around the world This issue is still complicated and controversial CONCLUSION This chapter describes about ethnic and racial assimilation in the United States very clearly The dominant American culture is white, English-speaking Protestant and middle class The assimilation is expressed differently between Non-Protestant, NonWestern Europeans and African-American The effects of assimilation make the United States be described in many names: “melting pot’’; or “salad bowl’’; or “mosaic’’ And the United States is considered as the first universal nation in history Finally, we can see that assimilation process brings for American culture with the name multicultural country 30 30 ... many, one.' 19 19 VI The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics and the attitude of American The Muslim immigration in America with its influences on politics 1.1 Muslim immigration. .. third of the American Muslim population After passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, America opened its doors again in 1952 and an entirely new group of Muslims came from the Middle... Party and State is trying to change and improve the lives of ethnic minorities in mountainous areas According to the principle of the state organization of Marxism-Leninism, one of the functions of