Chapter 5-Ethnicity and Race in American Life

Chapter 5-Ethnicity and Race in American Life

After reading this particular chapter, I was definitely questioning the true meaning of being American? Is it having Thanksgiving every October or being patriotic to the United States or is social values, attitudes, beliefs and norms that we all believe in? Does living the American Dream make you American or having the legal citizenship? For every person, the definition may change upon the way they think of ethnicity and self-identity in America. I mean America is indeed a place where one could be what they want, you could change yourself, forget about your own culture/ background to try to fit into the American culture. But what is the American culture…isn’t it a mixture of different immigrants, races, ethnicities and cultures all coming together. For me personally, I was born and raised in America but don’t consider myself to be American. I hold onto my own culture and family background and am proud to come from where I do. It’s frightening to know that people are willing to let go of their own culture and think it’s unacceptable to be something other than American once you are here in the United States. Being born in the United States could possibly mean being American to some people. Race is a very controversial issue for many people because some people are discriminated against depending on their skin color or ethnicity, while others are biracial and cannot identify themselves clearly. This happens a lot when someone is filling out a job application or survey that requires you to put down your race in order to gather statistics. English culture probably consists of knowing the English language fluently, being an American citizen, knowing the U.S law (amendments, constitution, democracy), freedom of speech since the U.S is known for allowing people to speak their mind and have their own beliefs and probably even eating American food and participating in cultural things that could perhaps be patriotic and also understanding the history of the United States. The U.S has been involved in way too many wars with various countries, has military all over the world which his really unnecessary, oppressed many people through centuries and discriminated against pretty much every race and ethnicity out there. The U.S has discriminated against many people which is nothing to be proud of. Coming here to America, millions of people change their personal habits and traditions in order to conform to society while people from older generations tend to understand the importance of one’s own values, religion, beliefs because that’s how one self identifies and hold onto that for as long as they can. We tend to be closer to people with the same culture, beliefs and even ethnicity as ourselves because they are one of us and we trust them. It’s hard to trust people from other communities and that’s what some people are afraid of. But living here in the United States for as long as I have, I’ve come to love the Golden Rule of respecting and getting to know your own neighbor. We pass many people on a daily basis without speaking or even doing the smallest gesture such as smiling, but living here I’ve come to understand that it’s good to be in contact with people you live with and go to school or work with. Social life has dramatically changed through the decades as well both positively and negatively.