“Where are you from?” is a common question people ask if you look ethnically mysterious. Being a different race with unique facial features shows you are, not what they call in the United States “American”. Evelyn Alsultany was born and raised in New York City. Her ethnicity is Arab from her father's side and Cuban from her mother's side. She describes the social issue, she confronts the way people approach her creating assumptions, consequently making her feel excluded from her cultural background.
However, the fact is that most Americans have the impression that Hispanic immigrants are perceived as a threat for not assimilating into the American mainstream, more so into the Anglo-Protestant values. Why is that? Is it for fear that the Spanish Language may overrun the country? Similarly, Neil Foley, author of, Mexicans In The Making of America, asks the same questions, why fear? In his prologue chapter, Foley makes a point by proving the fact that in the past, Mexican immigrants were not a concern but were, “ let in to provide the labor force for the rapidly expanding economy”(2).
Everyday the future in America looks brighter for the issues dealing with race and identity. Brave souls are not letting racism, class discrimination, or sexism hold them back anymore. Furthermore, the fight for a balanced society that pushes for equality is on the horizon. As we close on an era, based on purely the skin of the person, we need to analyze the impacts of the Ethnicity paradigm and Class paradigm on politics of the 20th century. Race and Ethnicity are used interchangeable in everyday conversation, however; they are not the same.
In San Juan-Aquilar’s essay, I believe the home of meaning is two different senses of identity. From the perspective of Filipino Americans, their home is means their identity recognition by American mainstream society. Although America is the largest nation of immigrants, but the discriminations of inter-ethnic have been exist from the first generation of Asian immigrants until today. Although all immigrant groups in the United States must survive and try so hard to fit in the American society, which is dominated by white Christian Christianity in Europe, they also bring their own cultural characteristics on this land. Asian American are considered to be the f ethnic minorities which most difficult to integrate into the American society due
As I read Hunger of Memory, Chapter 4, Complexion; I feel this topic played an important role in Rodriguez’s life. As a child he was always aware of his skin color, due to the fact that his mother was also calling attention to him. His mother was very sensitive to his skin color and always reminding him to stay out of the sun. For example, they were at a pool one day she called in Spanish “to put a towel over your shoulders,” (133) this would prevent him from getting any darker. His mother would even teach him ways to lighten his skin.
Richard Rodriguez’s use of irony in his essay “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans” is an effective writing style because it creates a controversy within the audience, grabbing their attention. For Instance, Rodriguez portrays immigrants as a negative connotation, “There is something unsettling about immigrants... well, because they chatter incomprehensibly, and they get in everyone's way. Immigrants seem to be bent on undoing America” (lines 1-3). His use of irony here is effective because he himself is an immigrant.
Richard Rodriguez’s claim about a person's identity is the using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid; culture should be what defines a identity. Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were being “welcomed within a new community for reasons of culture. “ (136-137). Richard Rodriguez says that newcomers were welcomed when they were identified by their culture. Richard Rodriguez also says “I am Chinese, and that is because I live in a Chinese city and I want to be Chinese.“
He supports this argument by telling his own story of being forced to learn English by the bilingual education system. The experience he had learning English made him experience great embarrassment, sadness, and change. Rodriguez concludes his experience by discussing how English had changed his personal life at home: “We remained a loving family, but one greatly changed. No longer so close;no longer bound tight by the pleasing and troubling knowledge of our public separateness.” By learning English, Rodriguez’s family is finally able to integrate into society without language barriers.
With Ruiz, the melting pot did not welcome him for his outer appearance comparing to his friend Valdes. Their “friendship was cemented through school and sport. They stood up for each other against troublemakers” (Ojito, 2000), but they now hold two different lives due to the color of their skin. Although sharing the same ethnicity, the colors of their appearance separate the two best friends. In other words, by biological mean, they are “differentiated by physical characteristics”
An Ethnic Trump by Gish Jen narrates how a Chinese-American mother teaches her son about the involvement of racism. It is a personal essay about Gish Jen’s experience as the mother of a child that is biracial. Jen’s husband is of Irish descent and she is Chinese-American. Yet evidently, people view their son, Luke, as mainly Chinese. The author’s primary aim in writing this essay was to reflect on how multiracial people are perceived.
societies in the world. These sub-cultures include Whites, African Americans, Asians, Irish, Latino, and European among others. Chicano refers to the identity of Mexican-American descendant in the United State. The term is also used to refer to the Mexicans or Latinos in general. Chicanos are descendants of different races such as Central American Indians, Spanish, Africans, Native Americans, and Europeans.
Hispanic Americans, or Latinos, are a very large and diverse ethnic group in the U.S. Altogether, they make up about 44 million people or 15% of America’s population. Individuals who make up this category can identify with various nationalities and backgrounds. However, the 2010 U.S Census – as stated in the textbook -- reported that 75% of its total Latino respondents identified being of Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban origin. According to the lecture notes, 65% of Hispanics claim to be Mexican Americans, while 8.5% are Puerto Ricans and another 3.5% are Cuban Americans.
With this Lizet discovers that her identity is not binary and that she can be both Cuban and American. She reflects, "Maybe we are not just one thing. Maybe we are two or three or more things" (Crucet 292). This realization suggests that navigating two worlds requires a willingness to challenge the simplistic notion that identity is a fixed concept. Crucet successfully highlights these more nuanced perspectives, implying that in regard to multiculturalism, one should not have to choose but integrate all different parts of their identity, forming a more complex
Self-identity is a struggle many minorities must face within American society. Despite how much people do not wish to be labeled, society has to categorize people into specific boxes. Within two novels The Devil in a Blue and Native Speaker many characters who can be considered minorities struggle with their own identities, especially when it comes to achieving their goals. In American culture, in order to become successful many minorities are faced with a difficult decision. Should they continue to strive towards the American Dream at the expense of who they are or to choose to let go of that dream.
She articulates the concept of one’s cultural identity as comprising more than one culture in a single crossbred word. While directly addressing her audience, Sotomayor also creates a profound emotional connection between herself and her audience. She differentiates some of the unique tastes she has acquired throughout her life, before speculating, “I bet the Mexican Americans in this room are thinking that Puerto Ricans have unusual food tastes.” Sotomayor calls upon members of the audience directly in hopes of making her message about existing outside of either a culturally homogenous or heterogeneous society more relevant and insightful to listeners. After pointing out that Puerto Ricans have unusual food tastes, she then emphasizes that “Some of us, like me, do” to use her food palette as the subject to show that just because she is Latina and like those foods, does not mean that all Latinas like these foods, too.
