All Residents Should Embrace the American Culture
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
In regard to the recent article relating to the New Castle “Inclusion and Belonging Committee,” (June 18-24) I can’t believe that government persists in attempting to regulate or control opinion and disagreement, however confrontational and non-violent it may be.
The first paragraph of the article contains the language or seed for perpetuating the problem by using the phrase that the newly-created committee is to celebrate “the town’s many cultures.” There is only one culture to be celebrated, the “American culture.” If people are residing here, having come from other countries with their own prejudices, which they have passed on to their children, they are not here to become American citizens and have no clue about what citizenship and American culture are or mean.
To come to this country and community to be or become American means to leave the practices and prejudices of the old country behind. It means to assimilate. It means to learn of American history and the country’s founding. It means to understand and abide by the Constitution.
Instead, there are “communities” within the community at large that seek the redress of grievances their members brought with them. They isolate themselves from the American community. That latter community and culture provides its citizens with the right to peacefully protest. We can call each other names and argue, loudly and vigorously, if necessary, but our “inclusion and belonging” is only in an American culture.
Vaginal mutilation is included part of some cultures but unacceptable in the American culture and should not even be considered for inclusion or belonging. The same is true for animal sacrifice or the stoning of women who violate “old country” cultural norms. It is doubtful that the children in our schools developed the prejudices they exhibit on their own. They may start at home but must be discouraged in the classroom.
The United States is a moral country, founded on basic moral principles, by moral and religious people and founding documents. Where is that taught with emphasis in our schools? Maybe the new “committee” should conduct programs or seminars for the disparate “communities” in the community so they and their children can understand and adopt what the American culture is and conduct themselves accordingly.
Maybe, when anyone moves into the town, foreign-born or not, they should get a copy of the Constitution and Bill of Rights to be read by the entire family. Maybe a copy of the Ten Commandments should be included as well. Don’t those documents describe and incorporate what the Town of New Castle purports to be?
Paul Jaffe
Chappaqua
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