{"id":1366,"date":"2025-04-08T23:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/?p=1366"},"modified":"2025-04-08T23:00:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T23:00:11","slug":"the-melting-pot-that-never-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-melting-pot-that-never-was\/","title":{"rendered":"The Melting Pot That Never Was"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The original idea of the Melting Pot to signify immigrants and immigrant culture coming together to make up the United States, was intended to describe many different people from different countries coming together to create a cohesive society. Heterogeneity coming together to form homogeneity. That never actually happened. <strong>The U.S. Empire has always been homogenous, but not from heterogeneity. It has been homogenous from homogeneity<\/strong>. And it is currently aiming to become even more so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91f9254b-8ea1-4c1d-96db-8c5f6f4a36fb_1480x800.jpeg?ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456%2Cc_limit%2Cf_auto%2Cq_auto%3Agood%2Cfl_progressive%3Asteep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F91f9254b-8ea1-4c1d-96db-8c5f6f4a36fb_1480x800.jpeg?ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>A place that honors heterogeneity would uplift diversity. It would honor each culture that arrives, exists, and emerges without trying to co-opt, diminish, or acquire it. It would truly share experiences and perspectives as peers for collaboration and interdependence. It would not prioritize one culture as supreme over others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But white dominant culture has never not been embedded in the United States<\/strong>. There has never been a time in its history that white culture has not been the default and standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The United States has never been that idea of the Melting Pot<\/strong>, and it never will be because it operates through <strong>punishment, police, and prisons, <\/strong>burningthe very cultures and people it claims to bring together. For years, it has tried to melt us into it and to make us assimilate, but ultimately, our people did not allow it. So the Melting Pot remained empty, burning itself. And now that Empire itself is melting, it is desperately trying to claim our lives with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do not save the Melting Pot. We were never a part of it in the first place. We were only the kindling to feed it. Let it remain empty, burning. Let the pot melt itself. Do not save Empire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Build a world where we are not the fuel and transactions for profit, and where we do not have to sacrifice our culture and traditions to be in community. <strong>It is our turn now<\/strong>. LandBack, abolition, no more borders, and rejoice in all of our variation, multiplicity, and the spectacular spectrum of being different.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The original idea of the Melting Pot to signify immigrants and immigrant culture coming together to make up the United States, was intended to describe&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/ykhong.com\/writes\/the-melting-pot-that-never-was\/\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Melting Pot That Never Was<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":null,"activitypub_content_visibility":"quiet_public","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,175],"tags":[336,341],"class_list":["post-1366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colonization","category-lets-all-get-free","tag-immigrants","tag-melting-pot","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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