Integration and identity

I found this author's observations and conclusions about the problem of integrating Muslims in Europe to be fairly astute. This paragraph particularly stood out:

Many Muslims, wanting to enjoy Western prosperity but repelled by Western ways, travel regularly back to their homelands. From Oslo, where I live, there are more direct flights every week to Islamabad than to the US. A recent Norwegian report noted that among young Norwegians of Pakistani descent, family honor depends largely on "not being perceived as Norwegian -- as integrated."

This is interesting for a number of reasons. On a personal level I had a good friend in high school who was Norwegian and he would complain about all of the Pakistani immigrants, and how they made no attempt to fit in. When I travelled with his family for two weeks in Norway I remember arriving at the airport and seeing all of these Pakistanis lined up in their traditional dress to greet arriving relatives. The contrast between the Pakistanis and native Norwegians, as you can imagine, was fairly stark.

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But, I suppose another reaction of mine is that we shouldn't kid ourselves about how well integrated we are here either. On a flight to Europe in the summer of 1999 I sat next to a college kid from George Mason University whose parents were Palestinian immigrants. Between his anti-Israel rants he also complained to me about Muslim girls at GMU who dressed in Western clothes and didn't make a big deal out of their faith. Essentially he was upset that they were integrating. This was particularly amusing to me because he was sitting there listening to Jay-Z on his CD player and reading Sports Illustrated, but whatever.

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This doesn't extend only to Muslims. Consider the Black community where there often seems to be only one way to be authentically Black. Doing well in school and using proper diction is often considered "acting white." If you don't dress like a thug and listen to hip-hop then you're almost a sell-out. Voting Republican makes you an Uncle Tom.

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The results of this approach are less than impressive. The price of "keeping it real" is often almost as heavy here as it is in Europe.