Construction of Black Identity
America's ethnic groups have been expected to slip quietly into the mainstream of American society for decades. Today these groups loudly and proudly proclaim that they have not yet merged. Indeed, many of America's minorities have found renewed relevance and comfort in asserting their separate ethnic identities. Commonly, immigrant parents ponder whether the opportunities in America are worth sacrificing traditional cultures, before making the move to America. American society seems to be too powerful a magnet for most people born in this country to resist. The forces undermining ethnicity - suburbanization, mass education, social mobility, growing tolerance, and the existence of an American culture - are strong determinants that no large group in the past has been able to withstand indefinitely. It does not appear likely therefore, that any minority culture, except for small and dedicated groups (such as American Indians on reservations), can sustain all of its own cultural heritage and still fit in. After one or more generations of a family has grown up in America, the alteration of at least some of their native culture is inevitable. For most people in the immigrant generation, the promises of American life remained
Each ethnic group in America today brings a unique lifestyle to this country. Members of groups whose economic and educational expectations are low, and who therefore lack mobility, are least likely to be assimilated (Colburn, 102). Many members of inner-city minority ghettos fall into this category. Although these people are at a disadvantage as far as their economic and educational opportunities are concerned, some may feel that they have an upper hand over people who do not live in ghettos. In most poor areas of America, one culture dominates. For example, the main character of Sandra Cisneros's The House on Mango Street, named Esperanza, lived in an all Latino neighborhood. By living around only one ethnic group, the people of these neighborhoods can not help but to preserve some common bonds of religion, customs, political interest, family and group life that hold their native country's culture together (Reimers, 192). Esperanza was very unhappy with the area she lived in, though. This is mainly due to the fact that the people who live in her neighborhood are considered to be Second Class Americans, because they are financially needy but also greatly due to these people's refusal to assimilate to the ideals of American society. If all of the people in her neighborhood bought into the "American Dream" which in Esperanza's case was to prove everybody wrong and be successful, than they would have a better chance of fitting into the mainstream American society. However, since most of these people saw nothing wrong with their condition, they remained outcasts from traditional America. This proves the impracticality of holding on to all of your native culture and still fitting into the American society. Publishing, Inc: New York & London, 1991 "Assimilation into life in the U.S. has never required the obliteration of ethnic identity. Instead it involves newcomers of differing backgrounds adopting basic concepts of American life-equality under the law", says sociologist Nathan Glazer in the article "From Newcomers to New Americans." This is to say that assimilation is not about immigrants rejecting their past, but should be about people of different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds coming to believe that they are part of an all-encompassing American family. Assimilation is not an instant transformation in which an immigrant suddenly becomes a full-fledged American. To some extent, it is never ending. Almost all Americans carry some of their ethnic past with them. Furthermore, American culture
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Approximate Word count = 1712
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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