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Assimilation and Acceptance
The United States of America has acted as a confluence of cultures, since numerous various ethnic and racial groups have inhabited it over time. When this country was young and developing, majority of the composition of its settlers was homogenous: composed of white or Anglo-Saxon people. However, as the country grew in terms of opportunities as people from all over the world poured in in large numbers. As the American mosaic of cultures was developing and becoming larger, it was also growing apart as the difference between whites and all the other ethnicities and races became apparent, and these minority cultures felt the effects and burdens of being different in ‘white’ America. Even today, be it at work, an educational institution or a friend’s circle, people from minority cultures always feel left out and less important. Therefore, minority people are forced to assimilate towards a dominant white culture that doesn’t value minority cultures in order to find acceptance.
Today, America is at its peak of cultural diversity, and the mosaic of cultures and ethnicities is at its largest maximum. Today is also the time where cultural and ethnic differences are the most apparent between people from minorities and white Americans. Therefore in order to fit in and to be accepted in society, minority people assimilate and conform to white American culture, since their own indigenous culture isn’t valued. Though the American population is so heterogeneous, the structural arena of the United States has not adjusted in accordance because the cultural, racial and ethnic differences of immigrants is not accepted within societal, economic and political contexts. These problems related to acceptance of different ...
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...Lisle. Boston: Saint Martin’s. 2013. 314-32. Print.
Fredrickson, George M. “Model of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective.” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Saint Martin’s. 2013. 565-77. Print.
Harris, Cheryl and Devon Carbado. “Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?” Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Ed. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Saint Martin’s. 2013. 524-39. Print.
Fox News. “Saudi Questioned in Boston Bombing.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 May 2014.
CNN. “Breaking News – Boston Bombings.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 12 May 2014.
Alexie, Sherman. “Assimilation.” The Toughest Indian In The World. Grove Atlantic Inc. Web. 15 May 2014.
Meanwhile, multiculturalism in the United States has been part of their history, considering the fact that almost all its populations, including its founders are immigrants coming from different cultural backgrounds (Citrin, 2001). Due to globalization, there is no reason why other immigrants and new ethnic groups could have difficulty assimilating themselves into American life.
"Terror Hits Home: The Oklahoma City Bombing." FBI. FBI, 21 May 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2014. .
Despite being a fundamental piece of ethnic studies, the authors mainly focus on the Black Americans and how slavery and consolidation of whiteness produced the modern day race relations in the United States; in other words, they only did far enough to explain the classic dichotomy between the whiteness and blackness. But there is much more to get out from the theory: the societal interactions mentioned by the authors indeed include immigration, since it impacts demographics and race relations among the other races and ethnic categories, such as Latino, Asian, and sub-white
Schorn, Daniel. "The Explosion At Texas City - 60 Minutes - CBS News." CBS News. 29 Oct. 2006. Web. 27 June 2010.
Hooks, Gregory, and Chad Smith. “The Treadmill of Destruction: National Sacrifice Areas and Native Americans.” American Sociological Review 69.4 (2004): 558-575. EBSCO Host. Web. 01 December, 2009.
Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.
In June of 2016, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States happens at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. In the aftermath of Sunday morning when covering the shooting, News 13 a local news channel from Orlando used pathos in their news to create fear about terrorism to the audience. On the other hand, The New York Times used eyewitness videos and expert interviews to appeal logic.
"CNN Video on Facebook - CNN.com Video." CNN. Cable News Network, 30 Apr. 2014. Web. 13 May 2014.
The United States has often been referred to as a global “melting pot” due to its assimilation of diverse cultures, nationalities, and ethnicities. In today’s society, this metaphor may be an understatement. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of foreign born United States residents nearly doubled from 20 million to 40 million, increasing the U.S. population from almost 250 million to 350 million people. With U.S. born children and grandchildren of immigrants, immigration contributed to half of this population growth. These immigrants, consisting of mostly Asian and Hispanic backgrounds, have drastically changed the composition of the U.S. population. In 2010, Asians and Hispanics made up 20 percent of the U.S. population, in contrast to a 6 percent share of Asians and Hispanics in 1970. It is predicted that by 2050, the share of immigrants in the United States will increase to one half of the entire population. With this rapid increase in diversity, many citizens have opposing views on its impact on the United States. In my opinion, an increase in immigration does contain both positive and negatives effects, but in general it provides an overriding positive influence on America’s society (“Population”).
With their new theory of racial formation within the United States, Omi and Winant encourage society to stray away from thinking of race on a purely biological or purely sociological scale and view it more on perpetually shifting spectrum that will forever change as society changes. Race and racism, while progressively getting better, is still prevalent in the United States today. With this new model of race relations, Omi and Winant present a progressive way of viewing the role of race within America that may lead to the elimination of oppression and the advancement of minority groups and Americans as a whole.
In A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki told a story that linked together multiracial groups in which there are many sides to the story more than just domination and conquest in America, where immigrants did not come by choice and natives who lived on the lands before the Americans came were forced to leave or sell their lands because either it was for survival. Even when choice was available, it was limited. America was a new country compared to other countries, in which the people were still wondering who goes to which hierarchal level because it was not yet stratified. It took a great deal of work to create a norm of white superiority and minority insubordination and inferiority. Race played an important role in making the modern United States
Nevertheless, in the author’s note, Dunbar-Ortiz promises to provide a unique perspective that she did not gain from secondary texts, sources, or even her own formal education but rather from outside the academy. Furthermore, in her introduction, she claims her work to “be a history of the United States from an Indigenous peoples’ perspective but there is no such thing as a collective Indigenous peoples’ perspective (13).” She states in the next paragraph that her focus is to discuss the colonist settler state, but the previous statement raises flags for how and why she attempts to write it through an Indigenous perspective. Dunbar-Ortiz appears to anchor herself in this Indian identity but at the same time raises question about Indigenous perspective. Dunbar-Ortiz must be careful not to assume that just because her mother was “most likely Cherokee,” her voice automatically resonates and serves as an Indigenous perspective. These confusing and contradictory statements do raise interesting questions about Indigenous identity that Dunbar-Ortiz should have further examined. Are
“Trayvon Martin 911 Call.” The Young Turks. YouTube. 19 Mar. 2012. Web. Nov 16. 2013.
Multicultural Education in the United States made its debut beginning with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s. Its intent was to become part of the cultural mainstream. The Civil Rights Movement brought to light the apparent concerns of discrimination, intimidation and inequality. During this period, pressure was placed on the Federal Government to examine their roles in the perseverance of inequalities when it came to Multicultural Education (Russell, Robert, The History of Multicultural Education, 2011). It can be compared to “Affirmative Action” where whites were asked to leave behind their own point of view and gain knowledge of the traditions of Multicultural groups (Taylor, Samuel. The Challenge of 'Multiculturalism' In How Americans View the Past and the Future, 2011).
A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki provides an insight of America’s multicultural nation. He shares the history of the non-European minorities who have settled and contributed to the growth in America. However, many do not view them as Americans today because they still follow the Master Narrative. This teaching only focuses on the European settlement and their history in America, therefore, causing no acknowledgement to the minorities. Takaki challenges the Master Narrative as an incorrect teaching because it does not reflect America’s full history. America has always been racially and ethnically diverse. Thus, he hopes to move them away from the Master Narrative and learn from his teachings that non-Europeans are Americans despite their