In Richard Rodriguez’s article, “Blaxicans and Other Reinvented Americans”, he states using race as a basis for identifying Americans is not valid, culture should be what defines a person. For example in the essay Rodriguez states, “I am Chinese and that is because I live in a Chinese city” (91). This indicates that just because he is categorized as Hispanic it does not define who he really is, since he is saying that since he grew up in a Chinese culture and he knows more about Chinese cultures than he knows about his own family culture. Rodriguez defines himself Chinese also because he grew up the Chinese way and not the Hispanic way, but deep down Rodriguez knows his race is actually Hispanic but he rather define himself as Chinese because
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
“Melting pot” is a common term used to describe the culture of the United States, as the country blends the values and ideologies of an abundance of different groups of people and individuals. As a result, there are a variety of possible positions on what it truly means to be an American. Some may argue that American identity depends on ethnic origin, religious background, or other personal characteristics. Others might claim that being American depends on whether one believes in liberty, equality, individualism, and justice. Nevertheless, Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros demonstrate that some perceptions about American identity can induce more harm than others.
Ultimately, “How Immigrants Become ‘Other’” is more credible than Cohen 's “Monster Culture (7 Theses)” because the authors have more authority to write about the subject of their source and this source
I could not figure out my identity either, I was in a culture shock and I decided to try to fit in with the American culture. I learned English in a month for I would not feel stupid and not being able to communicate. It was hard but being a Chicano is something to be proud of. This article seemed logical because I went through that.
He argues this case through many sources, one of which described that Mexicans are not capable of straying away from their own culture and even included U.S. born Mexicans Americans, thus making them more prone to creating a new nation within the U.S. southwest (35-36). Chavez explains that the scholar does not
When filling out surveys or job applications, all Asians must check off the “Asian American” box regardless of national origin or place of birth, forcing a single classification on an extremely diverse group. This aggregated approach to understanding Asian American is not new, it has been present since the us versus them Occident-Orient approach that powered racism against early Asian immigrants. With the increasing presence of second and third generation Asian Americans, it is time to redefine what it means to be Asian American and to discover a new manner of framing the Asian American experience as unified yet diverse. The best approach to emphasize diversity is through stressing the national, socio-economic and gender differences within the Asian American
However, his friend, Mr. Ruiz is a black Latino who lives in a different part of the town because he looked down on by whites. One example was when he went to eat with his friends and they were followed and pulled over. This would never happen to Mr. Valdés because he is white. “Here in America, Mr. Ruiz still feels Cuban. But above all he feels black.”
The author, Hua Hsu, believes the end of white America was put on a national spotlight when Obama was elected president, which is on the heels of the news of the majority minority switch that is supposed to take place in 2042. This switch would bring the relevancy of W.E.B Dubois, a civil rights activist, prediction of the problem of the twentieth century would be the color line, the race identification society asserts on individuals (Hsu 1). That reality, where the color line becomes a problem, comes to fruition with Donald Trump’s white nationalist views and his growing popularity. His ascendancy illustrates the problem of how we identify individuals and whether America will blur the boundary of race, where people are confined by the identity of race.
Liu uses this strategy to explain to us why Americans have a hard time pulling away from traditional culture and embracing multiculturalism. This stems from the fact that in the past, politics and media coverage during the beginning of the culture wars put the two in contention. He acknowledges in the article that “The assumption was that multiculturalism sits in polar opposition to a traditional common culture” (Liu 10), in contrast, Liu wants his readers to understand that this is not the case. He also negates the mentality people hold that non whites didn’t play a role in shaping America. He uses Ronald Takaki’s argument that says, “Since well before the formation of the United States, the United States has been shaped by non whites (Liu 11)”.
Ronald Takaki a renowned pioneer in the field of ethnic studies has over the years authored numerous books on diversity in American society. As a grandson of Japanese immigrants who became the first black studies professor at UCLA, Takaki for many years has continually tried to bridge cultures and ethnic groups in the United States. In his book “A different mirror: A history of multicultural America”, Takaki addresses the idea of multiculturalism in our society, and also talks about how for many years we have been told to acknowledge the notions that the core principles of our nation uprooted only from one group rather than a contribution from other various cultures as well. The ‘master narrative’ posed by Takaki describes the growing
I remember you were so proud you knew a foreign language. I remember I told you English was your foreign language and you left again. "(BFD, 21) Alexie is concerned with the fragmented, often alienated “bicultural” lives of such characters who sacrifice their native identity and culture in the hope of being assimilated in the dominant American one. Those who attempt to become assimilated, according to Elbert Memmi, might behave in this way: They endeavor to resemble the colonizer in the frank hope that he may cease to consider them different from him.
As a result of their emigration, America was now viewed as “multiethnic and multiracial” and “defined in terms of culture and creed” (Huntington 1). On the contrary, when people traveled across the border from Mexico, their culture was not so widely accepted. Mexican traditions and values were seen as a “serious challenge to America’s traditional identity” (Huntington 2). The “original settlers” of America were incredibly open to people travelling from Europe, but when people came from Latin America, they were
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.
America’s identity is defined differently by every individual. Ideally it was to be a place of freedom and acceptance, identified by its message of liberty and hard-work, however the question arises whether America is a melting pot in which only one culture dominates or it a mosaic of many peoples’ histories. America’s potential and true identity lies within its ability to assimilate and create a natural individualism despite race, class, and immigration standing. A country as powerful and influential as America is within industry, politics, and socioeconomics cannot be abstract in definition.
