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2nd-generation Americans find ways to remember their cultures

Angela Cara Pancrazio

The Arizona Republic

Jul. 3, 2006 12:00 AM

They are the children of parents who have come from every corner of the world to remake their lives in America.

Pushed out of their homeland by oppression, persecution or lack of jobs, their parents were pulled to their new country by the notion of opportunity and freedom. These freedoms were outlined in the Declaration of Independence, adopted on July 4, 1776.

As we celebrate the Fourth of July, second-generation Americans, those with one or both parents born in a foreign country, number 30.4 million, or 12 percent of the population.

The immigrant's story is centuries old.

The first generation faces prejudice and discrimination. Those immigrants struggle to assimilate into American society.

The experience of their American-born children, the second generation, is much different. Their native language quickly fades. By the third generation, the language dies out.

As children, second-generation Americans identify with American life. They may be embarrassed of their parents and want to forget their culture. But as they get older and more secure, some become more attached to their cultural identity and the ways in which they can connect to their parent's story.

In Arizona, many second-generation Americans keep something that reminds them of their parents, of where they came from.

One man plays his father's Lebanese music; another treasures his high school graduation picture. One young woman finds symbolism in a necklace given to her by her father. For another woman, it's her mother's dichos, or sayings.

And two brothers perform the traditional Chinese lion dance.