Covering

Abstract

Assimilation is the magic in the American Dream. Just as in our actual dreams, magic permits us to transform into better, more beautiful creatures, so too in the American Dream, assimilation permits us to become not only Americans, but the kind of Americans we seek to be. Justice Scalia recently expressed this pro-assimilation sentiment when he joined a Supreme Court majority to strike down an affirmative action program. Calling for the end of race-consciousness by public actors, Scalia said: "In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American."' Packed into this statement is the idea that we should set aside the racial identifications that divide us-black, white, Asian, Latino-and embrace the Americanness that unites us all.