By Suzanna Shermon

The melting pot ideal implies that everybody in a society comes together to form

a whole. Dissecting the term itself, “melting pot” implies that someone who gets thrown

in it “melts” and meshes with everybody else, simultaneously losing his or her own

identity to contribute to the greater whole. The benefits of this ideal are that everybody

in a society is equal to one another and all races and religions have uniform advantages,

implying that concepts like prejudice and discrimination do not apply. This concept is

faulty because in most societies there is always a hierarchy of power. Certain people or

groups have a larger advantage and more control than others, creating a set back in the

utopian idea that all members in a melting pot society are equal. Instead of melting in

with each other, we form a hierarchy of races and ethnic groups, where some races and

ethnic groups are more superior to others, rather than all of us being equal as the “melting

pot” idea suggests. James Baldwin once said: “People aren’t meant to be melted. Melted

down into what? It’s a very unfortunate image.” We do not form a whole. We do not melt

in with each other. Instead, every man stands as an island, and represents himself.

Nevertheless, despite the existing prejudice in the United States, this country

is still better than many others. My parents were born and raised in the Soviet

Union. In the Soviet Union, prejudice was the law. People were forbidden from

practicing religion. If people were ever discovered practicing their religion, they

were often arrested. Nevertheless, despite all practice of religion being forbidden,

there was still an unofficial hierarchy of religion. Christians often berated Jewish

people. Christian children in elementary schools made fun of children that even

resembled a Jewish appearance. My mother never had any typical “Jewish qualities”

to her appearance, so children in her class always assumed she was Russian

Orthodox. However, after a parent night at her school, all the children soon realized

that her father looked extremely Jewish. The next day, she found notes on her desk

with vulgar words that all essentially meant “Jew.” My parents ran away from that

country and its hate and prejudice with hope that life will be better in America.

While it is true that our country is far from ideal, it must be admitted that we

are far better off in terms of prejudice than many other countries. Yes, we are far

from being a melting pot of immigrants and natives forming a whole. However, we

do provide a much better life for our immigrants than the countries that they came

Our problems with prejudice, however, may come from the prejudice that

some immigrants bring with them here. For instance, if a Russian Christian family

moves to the United States and take their prejudgment of Jewish people with them,

then the prejudice now moves from Russia to America, and is yet another addition

to the existing web of prejudice. In sixth grade, I had a classmate that constantly

teased Jewish people over their curly hair and the shape of their noses. For some

reason though, she tried to befriend me. To my embarrassment, I found myself lying

to her, saying that I am only half Jewish, only to avoid her taunting. Needless to say,

our friendship did not last long. I soon realized how uncomfortable she made me

feel, and how I cannot be friends with somebody with whom I have to lie about who

I am just to be accepted.

While our country may be better than other countries in terms of prejudice,

we still have a long way to go. Just like Baldwin teaches: we must learn to love each

other and accept each other. This way, situations like my sixth grade fiasco can be

avoided. Loving each other will help us not just be kinder to people and kill off

prejudice, but it will also help as mature as individuals, and maybe, finally, conform

to the ideal of a melting pot.