A Summary On The Effects Of Immigration On Black Community Organizing

Racial Formation in the United States by Michael Omi and Howard Winant made me readjust my understanding of race by definition and consider it as a new phenomenon. Through, Omi and Winant fulfilled their purpose of providing an account of how concepts of race are created and transformed, how they become the focus of political conflict, and how they shape and permeate both identities and institutions. I always considered race to be physical characteristic by the complexion of ones’ skin tone and the physical attributes, such as bone structure, hair texture, and facial form. I knew race to be a segregating factor, however I never considered the meaning of race as concept or signification of identity that refers to different types of human bodies, to the perceived corporal and phenotypic makers of difference and the meanings and social practices that are ascribed to these differences, in which in turn create the oppressing dominations of racialization, racial profiling, and racism. (p.111). Again connecting themes from the previous readings, my westernized influences are in a direct correlation to how to the idea of how I see race and the template it has set for the rather automatic patterns of inequalities, marginalization, and difference. I never realized how ubiquitous and evolving race is within the United States.

There was a time when America was segregated; Caucasians and African Americans were forced to attend different restrooms, restaurants, and water fountains. However, the era of segregation has been terminated; now America embraces and appreciates the various cultures and ethnicities that create this melting pot several people call home. Likewise, it is this melting pot, or mosaic, of races that multitudes of individuals have identified themselves with. Thus, race and ethnicity does matter for it portrays vital and crucial roles in the contemporary American society. Furthermore, ethnicity and race brings communities together in unity, determines which traditions and ideals individuals may choose to value, and imposes an impediment for it categorizes humans unjustly.

Defining what really is to be an American does not sound as easy as it seem. It will always be complex process. As immigration continues to fuel the growth of the population of our nation, racial and ethnic gap increase and evolve along with it. Racial and ethnic identities become more and more convoluted and difficult to understand. Race and ethnicity continue to intermingle and push a cultural shift in the US– a shift that plays a significant role in redefining America in a day-to-day basis.

In his essay, “As Black as We Wish to be,” author Thomas Chatterton Williams tries to paint a picture of a world where the sight of interracial families was still considered an oddity and shows how, over the decades, society has slowly became more acceptable towards the idea. He begins the essay briefly discussing the ignorance of people during the late 1980’s while also elaborating what hardships African Americans have dealt with over the past century. He explains that even with the progression of interracial families and equality of African Americans, a new problem has now risen for interracial children of the future. While either being multiracial, African American, or White, what do they decide to identify themselves as? This is the major question that arises throughout Williams’s argument. While Williams’s supports his argument with unreliable environmental evidence, as well with other statistical evidence. His argument is weakened by an abundance of facts, disorganization, and an excessive use of diluted information.

The African-American community is comprised of 34 million people, and makes up approximately 12.8 percent of the American population (Barker, Jones, Tate 1999: 3). As such, it is the largest minority group in the United States. Yet, politically, the black community has never been able to sufficiently capitalize on that status in order to receive the full benefits of life in America. Today, African-Americans, hold less than 2 percent of the total number of elected positions in this country (Tate, 1994: 3) and the number of members within the community that actually partake in voting continues to drop. In spite of these statistics, as of 1984, a telephone survey found that 70

Some African Americans living today share a Spanish heritage, with their parents or grandparents, or the generation before. This leads to increase to the umbrella group known as “Hispanic”. So eventually, Africans made their way into becoming Hispanic. Shade in the Hispanic group is actual diverse. One can be black, and a Mexican and one can be white and have Spanish backgrounds. Nowadays, though, a Hispanic individual is puzzled as a white person who has Spanish backgrounds. However this is not the circumstance, in various areas of the world, there are African men that have Hispanic backgrounds or heritages, counting the United

1960s. These groups had been classified as non-whites in the 70’s and since the mid 70’s many of the immigrants have made their migration based on civil unrest in their homelands. Immigrants from Central and South America have increased in numbers rapidly since the 1980’s and have even

The influx of immigrants created the idea of Nativism, the belief that native born Americans are superior to immigrants. To this day there are nativists that still dislike immigrants especially when our economy is doing bad because they feel that immigrants take jobs away from American citizens. A time when African Americans moved from the north to south was known as the Great Migration. During this time period, African Americans would move into big cities like Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles and many more. To this day we still have a great majority of African Americans living in these big cities. As more time went on the amount of immigrants to America kept growing to the point where the government created immigration reforms. The immigration reforms were attempts to fix whats wrong with immigration policies. As of right now we are still working on immigration reforms including the rules we have to follow and the limitations to the different foreigners that we can let into the U.S. As of this day immigration reforms are a big debate within the

With the many conversations about the African-American communities and their issues with gang violence, government assistance, and the lack of jobs in their communities it is clear to say that the American Dream or even a moderate lifestyle was not created for all African Americans and Minorities and since we found a way to be noticed, heard, and felt like they’re rightfully a part of something America wants to now label it “war or Drugs” and “gang Violence” thus creating Gang Injunctions in those predominantly of color communities. Now I am not stating that the violence is not present, innocent lives are not being taken, nor are drugs consuming our communities, but what I am saying is that they act as if there is no other approach that could help clean up the streets, provide piece and harmony among all communities, and solve issues for the betterment of the community. Instead they are removing them from their communities, threatening them from going to their neighborhood, and as a consequence they get jail time, an institution that already houses half if not more than half of our black men. The gang injunction initiative is set up to tear apart the minority communities through driving up the prices and making them move, especially if they have a family member who is under the injunction’s rules. Its ironic how they put them in such enclosed space, while they make suburban home for the economically fit causing them to commute and now they are systematically removing them

During the mass immigration era of America, an abundant number of people traveled to the urban industrial society of the United States in aspiration to seek job opportunities and better lives than the ones they left behind. These groups included the Poles, Italians, Chinese, Mexicans, Japanese, East European Jews, and the African- Americans. However, one of these groups mentioned was distinctly different from the rest: the African-Americans. They were already American citizens, who migrated to the northern American cities to free themselves from segregation, oppression, and harsh conditions they experienced in the South and obtain equal rights and opportunities. Although the African-Americans'

In the Black communities you hear more of Blacks seeking better treatment for Black criminals than you hear of Blacks patrolling their neighborhoods preventing crimes and tracking down criminals and turning them in to the authorities.; You hear more of Blacks complaining about the high Black unemployment than you hear of Blacks demanding converting the money used to build or maintain Black churches into establishing Black businesses in the Black community to hire and service Blacks.(at the same time many nights & weekends in those same neighborhoods school auditoriums are empty that could be used for church services demonstrating a better use of Black funds, just a managerial thought); In the Black community you hear more about Blacks complaining that white businesses should be doing more to aid Blacks with hiring practices and increase wages than you hear Blacks demanding of Blacks with million dollar incomes to unite their financial resources and popularity together on united projects creating Black businesses of such quality the whites would come into the Black communities to shop because the quality of the stores and safety because of the emphasis placed on law and order in the Black areas by

Race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, poverty, and sexual orientation, all play a role in developing one’s identity and more often than not, these multiple identities intersect with blackness. Being that American society has deemed colored people and populations as minoritarian subjects, African diaspora people can be seen making safe spaces for themselves to survive as individuals and as a part of communities.

The population of the United States of America has been one of mixed race since its very beginning. Boatload upon boatload of enslaved Africans provided a labor force which would fuel the American South’s economy for many years, until national abolition and the subsequent civil rights movement created a primarily biracial population of blacks and whites. The US has come a long way since those days, and today every child

The United States has Changed from a Melting Pot to a Vast Culture with Varying Racial Backgrounds

American society is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. The 2010 Census indicates that the racial and ethnic makeup