Exploring Assimilation
By Maymun Mohamed, WHS Student
For my Culture and Community Capstone, I wanted to learn more about the experiences of immigrant children who came to America at a young age. I asked my classmates a series of questions about their experiences with assimilation. This topic is interesting to me because I was one of those immigrant children who had a difficult time learning the language, being accepted by the other students, and struggling to hide parts of my culture I considered embarrassing. Some of the topics we discussed included whether they felt pressured to eat foods that were not connected to their cultures; if they were ever embarrassed to speak their home language in public; and how discrimination they faced in childhood affects them today. I wanted to share one story that really stood out to me from my friend, Saima Ahmed.
Exploring Assimilation with Saima Ahmed – Interview by Maymun Mohamed
I’m from Somalia. I was born in the capital, Xamar. My name is Saima, I came to America with my family in 2016, so I haven’t been here for that long. My English isn’t the best, especially since I came to America when I was 14 and now I’m 20. My family is pretty big, I have nine siblings, including myself that’s 10 kids. I came here with my seven siblings, and then we came to America, and my mom met my step-dad and she had my two siblings with him. So in total, that’s nine siblings for me.
I’ve never felt pressure eating foods that aren’t in my culture, I’ve always had to deal with pressure in doing things I would never do, like going to parties, smoking, and drinking. And when I explained to them that in my religion and culture we aren’t allowed to smoke, drink, and intermix with others of the other sex, they called me a prude, and to loosen up. I don’t think they had any respect for my culture and religion. For me, they weren’t my friends, because if they did respect me and were my friends they wouldn’t have tried to pressure me to do things I don’t find comfortable. I’ve removed myself from that situation and just never spent time with those people again because I did feel like if I continued spending time with them I would actually do the things they would peer pressure me to do.
Yes, I’ve felt a lot of pressure eating my cultural foods, especially since my English isn’t the best, I’ve always felt a little embarrassed eating these foods in cafeterias, and anywhere else that has white people in it. I went to a predominantly white institution, and that led to me being teased by the white kids, and not feeling comfortable making friends with people not in my culture. I think the way people seem to see something different and treat it differently is very weird. Just because the food I eat isn’t something that is in their daily lives doesn’t make it very strange. I mean they eat junk foods/fast food daily, and yet I don’t make fun of them for eating unhealthy foods. The foods that I eat in our culture are rich in nutrients and protein, and the foods I’ve seen them eat are not that healthy, especially the foods on the weekdays. I feel like the convenience of fast food has led to people replacing the importance of home-cooked meals. The only time they’ve eaten anything home-cooked, is either on the weekends or their holidays, like thanksgiving.
I’ve felt quite embarrassed speaking Somali sometimes, It’s quite hard speaking in a different language around people that can’t understand me, doing something like that is a little unnerving. But I do like speaking in Somali when my friends and I want to talk privately without someone else understanding what we’re saying. Being a Hijabi even if I refused to wear our cultural clothing they’ll know I’m different because I’m visibly Muslim. And if I ever feel a little shy or embarrassed wearing it I always think, If I’m pious enough to wear my religion, then I am loyal enough to wear my heritage that Allah blessed me with. So even though I feel a little embarrassed I wear it as a symbol of pride because of the brave Somali women who made it for us.
Assimilation affected me when I first came to America, being a shy little immigrant I wanted to desperately fit in, so I tried wearing the clothes they wore, the way they talked, and other things. I wanted to whitewash myself and the discrimination from when I came here at first did lead to my whitewashing myself. I’m very connected to my culture, I hang out with only our people, I’m surrounded by Somali people, Somali foods, and Somali clothing. So I consider myself very connected.