Dreams are powerful. They are images that flash in our minds while we sleep or goals that define us while we are awake. For centuries, dreams have been the reason immigrants came to America. Dreams of hope, love, refuge and the dream of a better job, education and life. America has warmly embraced immigrants and their aspirations throughout the centuries, but unfortunately today Americans do not kindly accept all foreigners who travel to the United States in search of the American dream. Instead America labels an individual's race and categorizes them into a racial class, which only increases the hardships for immigrants and has the potential to thwart dreams. Today the American ego has grown and attempts to forcibly assimilate these immigrants rather than let them slowly acculturate. Although the United States is a country built on immigrants, Americans often categorize and label foreigners, forcing them to assimilate into American culture. As citizens coexisting in one country, it is imperative to abandon these labels and allow immigrants the freedom to blend their culture and self-image into their new American environment by adapting the ideas of multiculturalism and acculturation. Forced assimilation affects all immigrants around the world. In America, forced assimilation begins with the labels and stereotypes that are imposed on immigrants. America is a melting pot that serves as a home to many different types of people and this is something that every citizen has in common. It doesn't matter if a family has lived in America for 100 years or just 1 year, every family deserves to call America home and have confidence in their roots. Labels that may seem trivial like "smart Asian" or "black" actually alter ...... half of the card ......012. Network. December 3, 2013. Kymlicka, Will and Keith Banting. "Immigration, multiculturalism and the welfare state". Ethics and International Affairs (Wiley-Blackwell) 20.3 (2006): 281-304. Academic research completed. Network. December 3, 2013.Patel, Jay. "Assimilate or Acculturate?" Department of English, University of Maryland. University of Maryland, April-May 2012. Web. 03 December 2013.Skerry, Peter. “Do we really want immigrants to assimilate?” The Brookings Institution. Np, March-April. 2000. Network. 03 December 2013. Thornton, Bruce. "The Problem of American Assimilation | Hoover Institution." The problem of American assimilation | Hoover Institution. The Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University, May 24, 2012. Web. December 03, 2013. Union, Yale Politician. “Should Immigrants Assimilate?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, October 11, 2009. Web. December 02. 2013.