Kenji Yoshino Questions

A.)   “Covering has enjoyed such a robust and stubborn life because it is a form of assimilation.  At least since Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s 1782 Letters from an American Farmer, this country has touted assimilation as the way Americans of different backgrounds would be “melted into a new race of men.” By the time Israel Zangwill’s play of that name was performed in 1908, the “melting pot” had acquired the burnish of an American ideal. Only with the civil rights movement of the 1960s was this ideal challenged in any systematic way, with calls to move “beyond the melting pot” and to “celebrate diversity.” Yoshino also says in paragraph 7 that “covering is a hidden assault on our civil rights.” When I think of covering I really think of a way to hide your true self and being distant from people or something.