My American Culture Essay

“Well, it’s a bit of a foreign idea to me, really. The town I’m from, my school was 99% white. Literally, we had two black girls and a half-Peruvian guy in my class of 140. So the emphasis on diversity is interesting to me, more than anything. Because I can’t relate to it. I’ve never seen it in action, as it were.

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.

Is it true that immigrant’s native roots never leave them? Do cultures keep the best interest in mind for immigrants? I live in the great state of Texas where according to the US Census for 2016, Hispanics account for 37% of the population. My church in Buda, Texas has 3500 families and is about 70% Hispanic in membership, moreover; half of our family friends are Hispanic and most of these friends are living the US culture. Some of our employees though maintain Spanish as their primary language. Immigrants have an unbreaking bond entwined with native culture.

Being an American “For the land of the free”, do these words sound familiar? Of course they do they are the lyrics from the United States of America’s national anthem. Now earth has countries that stretch from coast to coast. But few of the countries have the freedom that the United States of America. Being born American is an honor to many of the citizens, because this country has plenty of things to be proud of.

What does it mean to be American?Well it all depends on who you ask, because everyone has their own opinions. Being an American mean has and had many definitions for many centuries. During WW1 being an American was helping server the war or help the war. In WW2 it was the exact same thing. Women in this age thought being American was having the same rights as men.

There were many continuities and changes in cultural beliefs in the Americas during the time period 1450-present. Some changes were, when africans and natives were forced to learn christianity and syncretic religions started by mixing with native and christianity beliefs. Some continuities are, some native beliefs still survived and religion was still important to others.

Social inequality stems from many facets of life and mindsets reproduced continuously in America. The main backbone of systematic inequality is formed off of race, gender and class, which all contain crucial aspects that further oppress those subjected to inequality in various aspects of life. The resources-schools, occupations, invested parents- around one fuels the opportunity in their lives, a concept highlighted by Malcom Gladwell, in his book, Outliers. Situations one are brought up in or uncontrollable genetic aspects can very easily restrain their opportunities. Racial discrimination, gender roles and inferiority and the lack of fluidity in the low and working class push inequality, which simultaneously influencing the rich and privileged.

Being American is more than just living between the blurred lines of red, white, and blue but defining how civility, humility, and inclusion helps mesh what is great about the United States of America. We take our liberties to be infinite and without protest when opposition does not infringe upon one's livelihood, but shroud those protections when a sector of the population brings light to injustice. Running to our comfort zones when the judgement is a burden or too difficult will never facilitate change, but will just harbor the resentment of the marginalized while muffling their cries. Can we really accept the love of our country if we refuse to understand one another's differences?

When our forefathers established the American Constitution, they held the beliefs that all citizens of the U.S. should have the basic freedoms and rights, equality and security. These basic beliefs laid the foundation for our country. These ideas are still used today.

Media is an artistic profession with a lot of positivity related to how the current events reach the mainstream public. With the introduction of social media and online news article, the public has constant access to the material presented by media outlets. During the last couple years there are many instances where media has helped develop an illusion of the American current society with the use of fallacies portraying a negative image of the cultural. Historically, media outlets report according to what the actual media makers and producers believe versus what the current public believes. This causes a mis-representation of American cultural, America’s racism, and statistics on crime.

Regarding my family heritage, a large part of my food identity is Polish food. My great grandparents on my dad’s side immigrated from Poland in the early 1900s. When they came to the United States, they

The landscape of colonial America has dramatically changed beginning with the root of the North Eastern Indians and following the routes of the thirteen American English colonies. As American history progresses, we have to put ourselves in the mindset of the people of the past to learn about the past. Our values and beliefs are evidently different, yet similar as we build from our mistakes and acknowledge the accomplishments of America. Given the misunderstanding of the values and beliefs of the Northeastern Indians by early European settlers, stark differences occur like using property for its ecological use and avoiding the accumulation of wealth compared to colonial American English colonies’ use of property for cash crops and acquisition of wealth for political and social status, as well as similarities between the two in valuing time and social

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck advocate that cultures mature into different states depending on their value orientations. These orientations involve human’s relationships with nature, time, motive, human behavior, and other humans. Most cultures develop by putting their value into some aspects of these orientations over others. An example, Americans put value into nature and their relation to God. When only comparing the world’s industrialized nations, America is known for having a higher percentage of citizens that believe in God. Thus, this illustrates how America has been shaped by this orientation.

Between 1790 and 1920 it was a tough time for the Indians. During that period Native Americans were forced to convert to the European-American Culture. Their whole life changed, the way of living, religion, and especially their children’s future. It was wrong of Americans to convert natives into a different society that they saw fit and not letting them express their own culture and treating them as an unworthy society.

The United States of America being the third largest country in the world with more than 315 million inhabitants, consists of multicultural societies with ethnically diverse population. Since there are a lot of foreigners, the US culture has evolved in such a way accepting and tolerating other foreign cultures. US is very much influenced by protestant work ethics according to which people believe in themselves and their efforts to attain the goal of self-actualization and success. The rich diversity in the culture brought by foreigners, prevailing values of protestant ethics, hard work etc. have helped US to emerge as a superpower in the past years. Nearly every religion had its impact on US culture in one way or the other. The