The Focus on Race in The United States

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“Differentiated races are fixed either by nature or God. You cannot escape your racial classification (Weidman, 2006).” This is the fifth basic belief of ideology and instantly establishes a basis on why race has survived in the twentieth century. There will always be scientists, philosophers, doctors and historians examining the origins and the continuation of race. By examining their research we are able understand this color line and how it has impacted the twentieth century. Race survived throughout the twentieth century in part due to the continuing discrimination against those of non-western European descent. From a cultural aspect we began to separate groups and degrade them by using offensive terms such a “Huns”, “Greasers”, and “Hunkys” to describe the immigrant groups (Roediger, 2008). There was also a problem with laws being bended to only include only a select few. In the case of Takao Ozawa seeking naturalization he was denied not because he was not white culturally (in the form of religion). The Naturalization Acts grew viscious as races began to throw each other under the bus hoping that they could personally find a way to become a white citizen. It became a dream to achieve the status of a working white american. Immigration is a current issue that has caused a lot of drama in the media but this isn’t the first time. During the early nineteen hundreds immigration was treated in a harsh light. The start of the First World War brought a strong distaste for immigrants. People hoping to assimilate by working in the American community were quickly faced with troubles. Immigrants from countries in Eastern Europe (specifically in the Slovak region) were discouraged from working and the new motto “100% American” began t... ... middle of paper ... ...o provide for those in our own country. We continued the seperation of races by making generalizations about races.A hundred twenty thousand people of Japanese ancestry from the United States were sent to live in war relocation camps due to the fact that they “might” be involved with future attacks on the United States (The Great Depression and World War II, 2007). Although many of these Japanese people were US citizens, based on misconceptions that they could endanger our country even our President was fooled. Again when citizens weer shown by prominent figures in the community that seperating races and passing judgement on them was approved it provides the fuel for racism to continue. The survival of race in the twentieth century was influenced by the confortation provided by the elimination of seperation between blacks and whites within the United States.

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