Embrace America
The words of Muslim activist Linda Sarsour last week struck a chord: “Our No. 1 and top priority is to protect and defend our community, it is not to assimilate and please any other people and authority. … Our top priority and even higher than all those other priorities is to please Allah and only Allah.”
As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, those words make me sad. My family assimilated, yet we kept what mattered to us most — our Cuban traditions, food, culture, language — as well we should.
But we also celebrated and adopted the traditions of our new country and those of other immigrants, as well. And happily so. Isn’t that enrichment? Isn’t that learning and growing?
It’s a good thing. Why won’t Sarsour assimilate? Keep the traditions she likes, lose the rest. And which of her values are so polar opposite to my own that assimilation is frowned upon? She is doing a huge disservice to her community.
Glo de la Cruz,
Key Biscayne
This story was originally published July 8, 2017 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Embrace America."