How Minorities are Forced to Assimilate Towards a Dominant White Culture to Find Acceptance

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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.

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