Skyscrapers bloom in America!
Cadillacs zoom in America!
Industry boom in America!
“Detroit City” tells the story of the many people from the rural South who moved to Detroit after World War II in hopes of achieving the American dream.
“America” – one of the best songs from West Side Story, which has a number of great ones – is also about young people who have lofty expectations about life in the big city. In the case of “America,” the city is New York instead of Detroit, and the young dreamers are Puerto Ricans rather than poor Southern whites – but the message of both songs is that the streets are definitely not paved with gold.
At least not for Appalachian trailer trash and Puerto Ricans (whose accents and skin color destine them to second-class treatment despite the fact that they are American citizens).
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West Side Story was originally going to be called East Side Story, and focus on a Romeo-and-Juliet-style relationship between a Jewish girl and a Catholic boy – one that was frowned upon by both set of parents.
But the Jewish creative team behind the original concept decided that the Jewish-Catholic angle was a bit clichéd. They chose instead to build the musical around an ethnic conflict, not a religious one.
In Romeo and Juliet, the young lovers belong to two wealthy and powerful families who have hated each other for generations. Exactly why they hate each other isn’t really clear – the feud has been going on for so long that no one remembers why it started.
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| The Sharks and the Jets facing off in the 1961 movie version of West Side Story |
In West Side Story, the young lovers are tied to rival New York City gangs. Tony – who is Polish-American – is the head honcho of the Jets, a gang that consists of second- and third-generation working-class whites whose parents were mostly Irish and Italian (with some Eastern Europeans and even a Jew mixed in). Maria is the sister of the leader of the Sharks, a rival Puerto Rican gang whose members are more recent New York City arrivals.
The Jets represent the traditional powers-that-be in their West Side neighborhood. The Sharks are upstarts trying to establish a beachhead in their largely hostile new environment.
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt kills Romeo’s best friend, Mercutio. Romeo stabs Tybalt to avenge Mercutio’s death, and then commits suicide because he mistakenly thinks that Juliet is dead.
In West Side Story, Maria’s brother Bernardo kills Riff – Tony’s best friend. Tony then stabs Bernardo in response, and is later shot in the back by Bernardo’s friend while he is running toward Maria – who he has been told is dead.
In other words, same sh*t, different day. Or, in this case, same sh*t, different play.
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In 1964, sociologist Milton Gordon coined the term “ladder of assimilation” to describe the process of how an immigrant group integrates itself into the society of its new home.
Cultural assimilation – learning the language and customs of their new country – can take place relatively quickly. But structural assimilation – that is, winning acceptance into mainstream social circles and achieving economic equality – usually takes much longer.
The worst enemy of the most recently-arrived group of immigrants is usually the second-newest group. The old guard of any society rarely feels threatened by the newcomers. But the previous wave of immigrants is probably still struggling to establish itself, and they aren’t likely to show much tolerance for those who have followed them to their new country.
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In the early 1800s, New York City’s political and economic power was mostly in the hands of an Anglo-Protestant elite.
That began to change after millions of Irish immigrants came to the city to get away from the Great Famine of 1840. Through the Tammany Hall political machine, Irish-Americans came to dominate local government – especially the police and fire departments.
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| Italian immigrants arriving at Ellis Island |
Although the two groups had a common religion, the Irish did not welcome the massive wave of Italian immigrants who began to arrive in the 1880s. A decade or so later saw a million Eastern European Jews came to New York City to get away from pogroms. Eventually the Italians and Jews gained economic traction and won political influence, but it took some time.
In 1965, Congress passed the Hart-Celler Act, which abolished immigration quotas based on national origin. That opened the door into New York City for almost two million immigrants from the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent, central Africa, and other areas.
Today, foreign-born residents account for roughly one-third of New York City’s population.
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In the words of the newest addition to the 2 OR 3 LINES QUINTESSENTIAL AMERICAN SONGBOOK, skyscrapers bloom, industry booms, and Cadillacs zoom in America – assuming you’re white and have gotten rid of your accent.
Some immigrants will achieve the American dream in spades. For others, America means twelve young men sharing an apartment and paying outrageously high interest rates on the money you need borrow to get started in a new place. You’re “free to be anything you choose” as long as you’re happy choosing between low-paying jobs like waiting tables and shining shoes.
The vast majority of Americans believe in the principle of equality of opportunity. But opinions differ on whether the government should enforce equality of outcomes – i.e., “equity”:
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The Hoover Institution’s David Davenport framed the debate this way:
Is pursuing equality of outcomes consistent with the American understanding of liberty as well as equality? Is America ready to trade in being “the land of opportunity,” still sought after by millions of immigrants, in order to pursue only equality? Should government be in the business of equalizing people’s economic or social status and could it even accomplish that if it sought to do so?
He argues that equality of opportunity is to be preferred because it is consistent with the American tradition of individual liberty, and concludes that “[t]here are reasons to be optimistic about the future of equality of opportunity”:
For one thing, the American people believe it describes the American dream – and describes it better than equality of outcome or other goals. For another, immigrants by the millions keep coming to America in search of opportunity; they see something here that perhaps long-settled Americans have lost.
Click here to watch the cast of the 2021 movie version of West Side Story performing “America.”
Click here to buy the recording of that performance from Amazon.
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