The Patriot Post® · Jindal to Immigrants: Assimilate

Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, in a speech before the Henry Jackson Society in London, had this to say about the need for immigrants to assimilate rather than balkanize and radicalize: “My dad and mom told me and my brother when we were growing up that we came to America to be Americans, not Indian-Americans, but simply Americans. If we wanted to be Indians, we would have stayed in India. Now, it’s not that they were embarrassed to be from India. They love India, but they came to America because they were looking for greater opportunity and freedom. Historians rightly refer to America as the great melting pot and it was. But over time, a different philosophy has crept in. That philosophy now dominates the thinking of the American left and perhaps even the mainstream thinking in Europe. This philosophy holds the notion that assimilation is not necessary or even preferable, but it really goes further than that. This philosophy holds the view that it is wrong to expect assimilation. That assimilation is colonialist. That assimilation is backwards. That assimilation is in fact evidence of cultural bigotry and insensitivity. They think it is wrong to expect that people who choose to immigrate to your country should be expected to endorse and abide by your laws. They think that it is unenlightened, discriminatory and even racist to expect immigrants to endorse and assimilate into the culture of their new country. This is complete rubbish.”