consensus: yes, immigrant absorption still works-and given the number of newcomers arriving today, the nation's future depends on it. But it need not be incompatible with ethnic identity-and we as a nation need to find new ways to talk about and encourage becoming American. In the wake of 9/11 it couldn't be more important to help these newcomers find a way to fit in. Running through these essays is a single common theme: Although ethnicity plays a more important role now than ever before, today's newcomers can and will become Americans and enrich our national life-reinventing the melting pot and reminding us all what we have in common.

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