Assimilation. The act of assimilating, which is to absorb into the cultural tradition of a population or group, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (“Assimilate.” merriam-webster.com). But what exactly is assimilation? How did it begin? What effects does it have on those who decide to do it? Most important of all, should we assimilate? In this paper, I’ll dive into the origin of assimilation, what assimilation is in everyday life, and what it feels like to the people who do it.
In the beginning, there was the Word. And then somewhere around the middle, we got 15th-century Europe. The roots of the slave trade were just sprouting as various European countries sent ships to Africa and back for spices, gold, and—you guessed it—slaves. Meanwhile, Christopher Columbus, the Italian son of a wool merchant and the student of astronomy, cartography, and various other fields that would likely serve him well in the future, was contemplating the seed of an idea that would transform the world permanently. In 1492, Christopher Columbus is credited to have “discovered” the Americas. (Spoiler Alert: He Didn’t.) Following his encounter with Native Americans, he documented the following words in his journal: “They would make fine servants … With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” Hmm, perhaps like slaves? Columbus’ expedition initiated a myriad of European nations’ exploration of the American continents.
Fast-forward some 500 years and here we are, in the early 20th century. This is about 50 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and sharecropping is what you might call the default career for the formerly enslaved. I believe that this is where assimilation really took its form. People were trying to make a living for themselves outside of sharecropping and other back-breaking labor jobs, and the only way they could perceive for themselves to accomplish that goal was to make themselves like the people who controlled the acceptance and rejections of said higher-standing jobs. Hence: assimilation. “To make similar.”
I interviewed DeKorey Sanders about what it is like to assimilate and he offered some interesting points. First off, he suggested that perhaps assimilation wouldn’t be the right word to refer to what people of color do in situations where they may feel like they have to. Adaptation would be a more fitting term. The analogy he gave was this: “Adaptation is, ‘it’s cold outside, and I put a coat on. I adapt to the weather, I’m not necessarily changing. If I were going to assimilate to cold weather, I would grow hair and fur.” We also discussed how particularly in America, assimilation wouldn’t be to a specific ‘white culture,’ because there isn’t really a ‘white culture,’ at least in the sense that either of us would define a culture. “Where did mankind originate?” he asked. “From people of color…It doesn’t matter what color they were, but they were people of color. So when they were dispersed, the traditions those groups had came from people of color. And then, as time evolved, yes, you have different languages, different customs that were adopted based on the region that they were in…but if you’re talking about the spread of colonialism around the world, and you look at what the Europeans did, going all the way back to all of the different European empires that existed…the Roman Empire…the British Empire, it went out around the world and enslaved people.” Subsequently, we went into a discussion of what cultures had survived the colonial era completely intact. We ended on this note: “For me, I have to do things a certain way to get to a certain point where I can change the system. You know, other people come in and have an easier path to the top than I have. You’re right, there is a level of conformity to white standards and adapting to white standards so you can get to a point where you can change those standards.” All in all, it was a very productive conversation. “Conformity to white standards,” I’d suggest, would be another acceptable way to define assimilation — in America, that is.
So in conclusion, assimilation is the result of centuries of oppression and being made to feel like their culture wasn’t enough. Assimilation is the consequence brought about by the idea that the Caucasian lifestyle is the only respectable culture and that all others are inferior in comparison. Assimilation is the outcome of the belief that unfamiliar societies and cultures are deficient, insufficient, and inadequate in terms of being able to accomplish certain objectives. Assimilation is the reason why terms like “unapologetically black” exist, because people have been made to feel like they should curb their “black-ness.” The term brings up a host of new questions in and of itself, but the fact is, the injustices and maltreatment of the non-ivory have caused discontent among other cultures about exactly that: their own culture.
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