Final Essay On Race And Ethnicity

For this final essay I will be discussing and examining the topic of race and ethnicity. To do so I will illustrate key elements such as identities, minorities and majorities, stereotypes and discrimination, as well as other important concepts.

To begin, let's first take a look at racial and ethnic identities. Due to bias and dislike to racial and ethnic groups, many minorities try to fit in with the dominant or primary group that exists. For instance an individual of one of these ethnic or minority groups in the United States may change personal aspects about themselves, including but not limited to; making English their primary language, changing their appearance, mannerisms, and so on. To fully understand we must also look at the individuals

The second group is pluralism, in which every individual keeps their individuality and they live harmoniously between the minority and majority groups. The third pattern is segregation, in which the majority group attempts to separate/ elevate themselves from the minority group(s). Historically we can look back in American history with the 1800's and 1900’s segregation between black and white people in the United States. The final and most brutal pattern is genocide, in which the majority tries to wipe out an entire minority group usually by brute force, resulting in countless deaths.

We have seen several examples of this such as against the Jews in World War II.

Another very important aspect of race and ethnicity we should examine is the educational gap. As ethnic and racial groups, black and Hispanic students are the least likely to graduate from high school let alone go on to higher education such as college. White and Asian students in the United States are far more likely to graduate from high school and complete college. This is most likely due to education segregation. Majority of black and Hispannic students come

Teacher quality is also a key factor as many predominantly black schools have overfilled classrooms leaving little to no one on one teacher-student relationship time, which is also a heavy impact upon the student’s education.

The last two topics I would like to cover are the commercialization of ethnicity in the US, and institutional racism. Many minorities attempt to market or sell themselves as well to try and make a profit. By this I mean that they sell their culture as a way for everyone to ‘enjoy.’ A prime example of this is The Day of The Dead, which has come from a cultural and ethnic background which is very important to many Mexican people. It has been taken and turned into a marketing exploration which has swept the United States, leading many non-Mexican people to purchase ‘Day of The Dead’ related goods and partake in the celebration.

The final topic I will cover in regards to race and ethnicity is institutional racism.

Institutional racism is racism that invades into social institutions and poorly affects minorities. It can take place in many various institutions and fields including, educational, labor, court and prison, health care, and the political system. This type of large scale racism attempts to