Challenges Faced by Ethnic Minorities in the United States

The apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives is calculated based on a state’s adult population,

Language is much more than a method of communication. Permeated within it are traditions, customs, and legacies of one’s culture. The identity of an entire population is in the distinct vocalizations of their native language. Unfortunately, as a wave of immigrants enters the United States at young ages, many face language barriers that pose significant challenges. Language barriers affect a multitude of immigrant populations to different degrees. This, in turn, causes many of them to abandon not only their native tongue but a piece of their ethnic identity, as well. In Maxine Hong Kingston’s personal narrative,“The Language of Silence,” she describes the difficulties she experienced throughout her childhood with a language barrier as a

It is expected that ultimately there will be a loss of ethnic distinctiveness for immigrants in the U.S., meaning the lack of attachment to the country of origin. (Golash-Boza, 2006) It is argued that all ethnic distinctiveness will no longer exist by the seventh or eighth generations. Before exploring the influence of foreign born vs. U.S. born parents on their children’s cultural assimilation; the different theories of assimilation will be explored. The idea of Assimilation came about in the early 20th century. (Golash-Boza, 2006) Assimilation is surrounded by two theories, the first that all immigrants will assimilate sooner or later and that the generational status of the individual is one of the main factors in determining the

Minority status has long since been viewed in a not-so-positive light. From the reflex many people have to lock their doors when they see a homeless person or a person of color, to stereotyping and assumptions based on institutionalized racism, to discrimination, minority status has a part to play in all of it. Similarly, many people have the idea that deaf people cannot do anything for themselves because they are “disabled”. Even though America was once hailed as a melting pot because of the diversity of its citizens, things like “you’re in America now, speak English” are said in today's America. While being defined as a minority isn’t inherently bad, it has become an excuse for some members of the majority to treat minorities as second-class citizens.

Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced practicing her mother tongue. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. She claims that by forcing them to speak English and attempting to eliminate their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that results from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States, Anzaldúa says she had to accommodate to the American culture. The fact that she was discouraged from practicing her native language induced her to become ashamed of her roots. In addition, she explains that she constantly felt suppressed on account of her gender. By incorporating Spanish words, powerful personal anecdotes and historical facts about her people, Anzaldúa produces a unique composition in which she depicts an unfair and repressive world and reprimands the prejudices that hinder certain cultures from flourishing and establishing themselves.

America has always been labeled the “melting pot” and the “land of the free,” but when one is analyzing the history and social norms of the country, these statements are far from true. America has thrived through the oppression of minority groups and social pressure towards these groups to conform to the majority culture. In any historical sense, from the near extermination of Native Americans to the racial profiling of Muslim individuals after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, minority groups have always been the victims and have always been viewed as different if they do not assimilate into the “typical” American culture. Numerous works of literature have successfully displayed the struggles that minorities face when attempting to conform. Two works in particular, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman and When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, tell stories of two different minority groups: Native Americans living in the 21st century and Japanese-Americans during World War II. While these stories are separated by several decades, it is clear that American culture has not changed, as each story exemplifies how difficult it truly is to leave old cultural norms behind in order to be accepted by the majority.

United by the obligations of the law, yet entirely divided by society, welcome to America. Patriots chant “equality” one moment, and “deport them” the next. Cruel, unaccepting, and uncompassionate, American society of the majority often appears to view itself as sovereign, turning a blind eye to, and often contributing to, the struggles of minorities. In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan (1990) does an excellent job of sharing her experience with similar issues as she tells her readers about the struggles her mother encountered due to being an immigrant who only spoke “broken” English. Society often put no weight into what Tan’s mother had to say, believing her ability to express her thoughts reflected the quality of said thoughts, which are of absolutely no correlation (Tan, 1990). This often led to Tan having to intervene for her mother, especially during serious situations that required resolution (Tan, 1990). Immigrants, no matter how intelligent or talented, may be plagued by continuous struggles because of a lack of understanding of English or American culture, stereotypes encouraged by the media, and discrimination, especially in the workplace.

How can we foster a climate of acceptance and cultural pluralism in the United States?

For many years the United States minority population mostly consisted of African Americans. In 2003, the statistic changed to Hispanics becoming the largest minority population in the United Sates (Parrado & Kandel, 2010). With the increase of the Hispanic population, education concerns of this population have started to arise. In some cases, Hispanics are being over referred to special education programs. This phenomenon is linked to the presence of a language barrier as well as other characteristics of the children in this population (Guiberson, 2009). Although the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) specify that language barriers should be ruled out, it seems that this phenomena continues, but could be

Race issues in the United States have plagued our country ever since our inception as a nation. Racism has fueled division, rioting, feuding, debate, and worst of all Civil War. Race issues have altered the way people work and the jobs that they are hired for. Race has also been a contributor to the rate for which one is paid. Race has also contributed to policies that support Law enforcement and or minorities. Some of these cases were; Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), the Court prohibited racial segregation in public schools. Loving vs. Virginia (1967), this decision holds that state laws prohibiting inter-racial marriage are unconstitutional. Another example, the Court found that a city school failure to provide English language instruction to students of Chinese ancestry to be considered unlawful discrimination in Lau vs. Nichols (1973). The University of California Regents vs. Bakke (1978), the Court decides that a public university may take race into account as a factor in admissions decisions. The decision holds that a state denies an African-American defendant equal protection when it puts him on trial before a jury from which members of his race have been purposefully excluded was in Batson vs. Kentucky (1986). Then a final example, Grutter vs. Bollinger (2003), In this case, the Court finds that a law school 's limited "affirmative action" use of race in admissions is constitutional. Because of racism we have also seen where we now have sub cultures in secret

Since the beginning of time, man has always found ways and means to distinguish himself a step above his neighbor. In the sciences, this innate behavior of humanity is described as a natural phenomenon, which is to be expected when members within a community are in competition for similar resources and opportunities. However, since the dawn of civilization, man has risen above this ‘dog-eat-dog’ mentality to consciously fashion more sophisticated avenues/models to place himself above his fellow man, based on elaborate philosophies, culture, religion and physiological differences (with the most obvious being complexion ), to mention but a few.

An issue that has become very important to me is that of fair education, specifically, in regards to ELL programs (English language learners) . This issue is very important to me because I’ve seen the struggles that immigrant students/the children of immigrants face when it come to the education system. During my early school years, I grew up in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood in East Harlem, therefore the schools in the surrounding neighborhoods had many native Spanish speakers. I didn’t encounter any problems in school with language, since English was my first language, but many of my classmates has trouble. I would often see teachers get frustrated with students when they could not communicate effectively with them. Instead of

Since the start of American history, immigrants came here and brought their traditions and cultures with them. The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Others come alone with nothing but determination. Racial discrimination against minorities and immigrants is an underlying problem here in America today. Racism is seen in our daily lives when people are discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity. Racism attacks the right to a person’s well-being on the basis of something they have no control over. They cannot change nor should want to change who they are. Racial discrimination is not as bad as it was fifty years ago, but it still a problem here in our country today. Our country has advanced tremendously as far as modernization and technology, but has not improved on the way we treat minorities and immigrants. From African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Arabs there is a form of discrimination against these group of minorities.

The history of the African Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans contains an infinite variety of experiences. To the Native Americans who founded these lands, slavery, and the waves of migration. What all minority groups have experienced is the

The United States is considered a melting pot because of the vast array of different cultures, ethnicities, and religious groups who all live within its borders. Other countries with fewer cultural differences have been torn apart by the conflicts that arise between these differing groups. It is believed by some that the United States has been able to avoid such ethical conflicts as have brought down other nations but looking at American history it is evident that this is not true. America's history is one of ethnic conflict because of religion, nationalistic, and particularly ethnic differences. The two centuries that the United States has existed has been a history of racial marginalization particularly against African Americans which culminated with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In the present, the United States likes to claim that as a nation, we are color blind but evidence exists to the contrary. The Klu Klux Klan (KKK) still exists, hate crimes are committed based on ethnicity, and stereotypes are perpetuated in order to minimize and ostracize. Despite these instances, the country has held strong largely because although these instances occur, they are not approved of by the government or those involved in criminal justice.