If you want to live in this country, you've got to assimilate.

Throughout last year, assimilation was one of the most common themes in the news. Take the story of the Muslim burqini-clad woman in France who threatened the whole beach with her middle-eastern symbol of oppression. When she was forced to remove the burqini in public, liberals and conservatives alike applauded the move. Although this happened in France, support for the burqini ban and other various forms of outspoken xenophobia exists rampantly in America as well. The argument? Muslim women need to assimilate.

So what does it mean to “assimilate” in America?

Let’s go back to the roots. Everyone knows that America was always a Christian nation, except, well, it isn’t. This is clearly explained in the establishment clause, part of the first amendment of the United States Constitution: America is not and never will be a Christian nation, or a Muslim nation, or a Hindu nation, or a Pastafarian nation. It’s just not constitutional, and it's also something we ought to have learned in middle-school civics.

But… wait. Then what makes it wrong to wear a burqini, or to speak Arabic, or to wear a hijab, or to abstain from bacon? Is that any different from wearing a cross or picketing outside Planned Parenthood clinics with signs that say “There is forgiveness in Christ?” Isn’t it a person’s right to practice their religion? Even if that person is a Muslim?

Well, our freshly-inaugurated president once declared, “Islam hates us.”

Okay, with that being said, we can definitely assume that every Muslim in this country is secretly planning to murder us and take over America. Of course, you can never tell what’s going on in their heads, so that’s why we need to suspect all of them.

All of them, even those who aren’t, well, actually Muslim. Sikhs, for example, have been targeted by the amount of ignorance and hatred stemming from nativism. Sikh men wear turbans, which, of course, automatically likens them to Osama bin Laden. Along with Muslims, many Sikhs have been targeted by bigots—one of the worst examples being the Sikh Temple Massacre in Wisconsin, which took place in 2012. Though Sikhs are a peaceful minority, many Americans don’t even know they exist, which is why they end up being lumped in the “terrorist” category.

The solution to this problem? If Sikhs and Muslims just adopted “American Values,” they wouldn’t even be targeted. Hey, it’s not the good Patriot’s fault. They all look the same, anyways! If they aren't willing to accept American culture, why should we accept them?

But what about Hispanic people? Many of them are Christian, too. So does that mean they’ve assimilated? Problem solved?

Nope. The problem? They’re illegals! They don’t want to speak English, so they want Americans to learn Spanish for them. There have been many incidences of Mexican immigrants being insulted by good American Patriots standing up for their right to keep America “American.” Just one of these incidences happened in August last year, when a Latina woman was verbally attacked in a parking lot for speaking Spanish. The message was more than clear: in America, we only speak English.

This is not to say that immigrants are never welcome in this country, and millions of immigrants have achieved their own American Dreams here. However, there is still progress to be made to truly understand the unique contribution immigrants have made in shaping this nation. In asking an immigrant to "assimilate" to American cultures and values, it is important to remember that American culture as we know it originates from the very people we want to change: immigrants.

In reality, most Muslims, Mexicans, and other immigrants are just trying to live ordinary lives, dealing with ordinary struggles like getting a job and trying to fit in. The truth is, many people don’t realize that “American” can be any race and religion—because being an American and having ties to your culture are not mutually exclusive.