Summary Of A New Perspective By Ronald Takaki

This essay is written for the purpose of analyzing Takaki's approach on why we live in such a diverse society and how we came about it. He shares the importance of the making and the history of our country. There are many takes on how this country was formed and I will be reviewing Takaki's approach to this and personally determine if his perspective is fair and just.

America in a New Perspective

As a Japanese American, Ronald Takaki was born in America and is a citizen of this country. Did this have an effect on how he portrays the white race in dealing with the issues of minority groups migrating to this country? After a lot of reading I have decided that I do not fully believe Ronald Takaki is being biased in his retelling of the history

He speaks of it in the introduction of his book, A different mirror. He shares about an experience where he is asked how long he has been in this country, even though he was born and raised here. His ancestors migrated to this country from Japan over one hundred years ago (Takaki, 2008, p. 3). Although he does include many negative experiences of small minority groups in America, I don't believe them to be biased. In my opinion, he is fair and righteous in his choice of content, especially considering he is also part of a small minority group. Racism is a world problem and has been since the originating of our country. It is an ongoing issue that causes conflicts across national borders and in every part of the world. It is an aspect in which races sometimes respond very negatively to the migration of others. Takaki begins with

147). Takaki was referring to single Irish women who were not only given the opportunity to work in this country, but were also offered other commodities. Not to confuse this with total acceptance, Irish housekeepers were still being oppressed and looked at as outsiders (p. 148). Many Irish, like other immigrants started here with minimal jobs and were being segregated and belittled. Most immigrants were referred to as ignorant and thought to be less worthy than Americans. Takaki included many illustrations of persecution, punishment and distress encountered by immigrants. This was supposed to be the land of opportunity and land of the free, but even some citizens learned that not to be true. Many black citizens were born into slavery and were oppressed and mistreated due to their skin color as well. Even though Takaki describes the horrendous treatment blacks experienced, he does speak of some whites being against what blacks were being accustomed to, “She was like a mother to him, the slave thought” (p. 113). He also covered the reasoning behind certain presidents and their take on migrants. Why they believed other races would not survive living in a country filled with whites unless they changed their ways of life.