Exploring Race and Ethnicity

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Table of Contents

Native Americans
African Americans
Hispanic Americans
Jewish Americans
Muslim & Arab Americans
Chinese & Japanese Americans
Summary
References

Native Americans

Native Americans have an interesting history. They are the group of Americans that originally came from the northern side of the American continent. They comprise the Inuit from the northern parts of the continent and the Indians from the southern parts of the continent. The Native Americans lived in clans and were receptive of the British travelers who landed on the island from the pacific.

The Inuit came into northern America between 6000 B.C. and 2000 B.C. The Indians settled in the southern part of the continent. They got their name from Christopher Columbus who thought he was in Indies when he arrived on the American continent.

When the British travelers arrived on the American continent, they found about 90 million Native Americans. The population dwindled as the British drove them off their land to start farming. Many other Native Americans showed heroic concern during the First World War. They lost their lives immensely and some migrated out of Northern America. After the war, the Native American communities were accepted into the American government. According to the census of the year 2000, there are 2.8 million Native Americans left on the American continent.

The Native Americans believed in community life. The lived mainly in tiny groups scattered around the terrain. They constructed igloos or teepees in clusters and shared resources per cluster of housing. The Indians smoked pipes and wore colorful attire made of animal skin. Native Americans today pray to their traditional gods. They also down bead work ornaments and have traditional pipes in their homes. In their communities, there are shrines put up for the prayers to their gods and ancestors for favor and health.

I admire the strong religious believers of the Native Americans. They have a strong sense of culture, which they uphold to this day. Their maintenance of tradition is envy able in many fronts. The Native Americans have sustained their culture and in co-operated it in many communities that integrated with theirs. I admire their belief and respect of ancestors. Their respect for life and death is immaculate. Only few people in the universe can uphold such respect of their community as the Native Americans have portrayed (Cornell & Hartmann, 2007).

African Americans

The African Americans in the northern American continent comprises of many communities of colored skin. They originated from willing migrants from the Jamaican nation and unwilling migrants from the African continent.

The Jamaican migration is based on post-emancipation while the African immigration is based on slavery. In the 1600’s, slavery boomed as a business. Many white farmers who had occupied the northern American continent required cheap and efficient help for their farms. They got theses from slaves brought in from Africa by merchant sailors.

After the slave trade was abolished the slaves became employed Americans. Many willing Africans also migrated into the American continent in search of greener pastures. They made up the African American community. According to the census of the year 1990, they reported that 410,000 Jamaicans followed a similar ancestry. The population of African American now stands at 12.5% of the total American population. This is about 24 million African American people on the continent.

The African American produced there own unique modern day culture. This attributed to, the fact that, many African Americans being different in ancestral backgrounds.

The slave traders collected slaves from vast cultures and customs. The differences in their customs made it difficult to identify with each other thought they were of the same color. With this hindrance, the African American community came up with a culture reach in entertainment. They mainly associated with jazz music and rap music. The come up with unique causal dressing.

The African American communities have a culture of sports and entrainments envied by many. I admire the rap music associated to this group of Americans. It contains influential messages that bring up a hardworking nation and inspires many to achieve their potential in the different fields in life. The African American community also fulfills my quench for entertainment by inspirational jazz music they are associated. There lifestyle of entertainment after the struggle for freedom is fitting.

Hispanic Americans

The Hispanic Americans community in the American continent spans everywhere. They vary from regions within the United States. Most Hispanics are indigenous in America as they come from parts of southern America incorporated in the United States. They consist of Mexicans and Hispanic settlers. Others included slaves and migrants from southern America who sort greener pastures from the rebelled state of Texas that was now part of northern America. More Hispanics came in from states that oppressed them as refugees.

The population of the Americans of Hispanic descent is large. They are the second largest group in the United States. There are over thirty two million Hispanics registered in the Northern American continent. This is about 22.5% of the total population. In the year 2009, there were about seven million undocumented Mexicans in the United States of America. This figure would raise the total number of Hispanics to 29% of the population if incorporated into the system.

The Hispanic communities of the United States of America have a unique culture and believe. The cuisine is mainly based on cheese, chilies and beans. They have brought in their unique traditional culture as serenading and piñatas into the American society. The culture of smashing piñatas and birthday parties is seen throughout the United States. Their culture of bullfighting and cockfighting is common in the southern states of the United States of America. These states include New Mexico and Texas (Harvey & Allard, 2009).

Firstly, I admire the Mexican cuisine. The dishes are hot and spices with rich tastes and full of nutrition. The wine produced by the Hispanic community is tantalizing many. Secondly, their sports are unique. They incorporate animals in there sporting events, which are fit for all families to enjoy. The cockfights require the owners to master the art of training to bring out the best in the cocks. This is also true in the bullfighting scene.

Jewish Americans

The first Jews came into New York America in 1654. They were 23 in number and arrived to the then known New Amsterdam. Their numbers rose to 2500 in the year 1776. In the mid 19th century, the population of Jews in America rose drastically. The Nazi killing of Jews in Europe is the main cause. They were targeted unfairly and killed be Nazis. This fronted them to leave their residence in Europe and look for safer grounds in the American continent.

The population of Jews increased and they sort other ways of living as their merchant nature of living hindered by industrialization. By 1924, there were about 4.65 million Jews in America. The new rules in the United States of America regulated the Jew influx from this year henceforth. In the last Jewish count noted, the American census board estimated about six million Jews in American. This accounts for about four percent of the total American population. The Jews population has been steady since then.

The Jewish American people are very religious in nature. They have passed their religious fete from generation to generation and have maintained their religious culture in the American society. They have built Jewish schools in America to raise their children in religion and Jewish culture. Their children are taught Hebrew to facilitate their practice of Judaism. They believe in the punishment of evil and return of the messiah.

The Jewish festivals fascinate me the most. In the Jewish American culture, they have a different calendar. Their holidays occur on different days in every year. Their new year occurs in October or September of every year. A big holiday takes ten days to complete. At this time, they reflect on the happenings of the previous years. The enjoy honey dipped apples on the day before the new year to signify growth and prosperity of the coming years.

Muslim & Arab Americans

The Muslims and Arab American community arise from rich ancestral roots of Arab nations. Majority of the Arab American community trace their roots back to Lebanon. Many Arabs migrated to America to spread Islam religion. They searched everywhere for a following and ended up in the American continent. Other Muslims and Arabs arrived to the continent as slaves. As the slave trade continued in Africa, the spread of Islam was also getting its roots in the region so the two ended up in the American continent.

As per the census carried out in the United States in 1990, there were 870,000 Arabs in the United States. This confirmed the migration from the Arab nations. In the census, they also suggested that 82 percent of the Arabs in America are registered as citizens. Arab scholars argue that the figure is greatly reduced. According to their records, there are more than three million Arabs in the USA. This is based on their Muslim mosque records.

The Arabs and Muslims in America also uphold a great sense of tradition, religion and culture. They dislike negative attitudes of premarital sex especially for their female members of the group. They maintain strong family ties all their lives. The also uphold female fidelity and chastity. Socially they a deprived of culture in the American society. The American society is filled with sex and scandals that the Arabs do not like being associated.

The most pronounced thing I like about the Muslim community is the way they uphold the family virtues. They believe in strong family bonds, chastity and virginity. With the current trends in the American society influenced by the media, these virtues go a long way in keeping families together and avoiding unnecessary crime and murder. Their role in maintaining innocence until marriage controls lots of high school pregnancies and marriage breaking up.

Chinese & Japanese Americans

Chinese, like many other immigrants, were motivated to go to the United States of America by similar motives. They moved from the gold mountain to the United States to search for exemplar economic opportunities. Others left their Chinese states in search of work as contract laborers and many others as refugees. They were the target by other immigrants and were discriminated by laws. They were the first group of immigrants to be denied citizenship by the congress.

Due to these discriminative acts by the congress and the population at large, the Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans population dwindled. They comprise of about 2.7% of the total population of the United States of America. This is the lowest figure of the American groups in the United States of America. Discriminative acts are seen to control the growth of certain groups in the American continent as the Jews and the Chinese, but it was necessary to control the influx of immigrants.

Cultural conflicts have not belittled the Chinese and Japanese culture though their population was controlled. Many Chinese and Japanese cultures have found their way in the American culture. Chinese medicine of acupuncture is widely used in the United States. The use of chopsticks and ordering of Chinese foods has taken over many American households. Chinese ceramic cutlery and dishes are widely used in the American society.

Chinese medicinal tea is also widely accepted by the Americans in homes and cafeterias. I really adore Chinese medicine. They are an easy way of detoxifying the body and full body health. The Chinese medicine helps as treat internal ailments with non-invasive methods. The massage and acupuncture are the best examples of these medicines.

There herbal tea is a preventive agent with treating abilities. A regular usage of the tea maintains perfect body metabolism, sharpness and detoxifies the system of damaging toxins. These traditional modes of treatment will never be revolutionized.

Summary

A multicultural society is a perfect blend to a growing society. Different cultural aspects contribute to growth of different sectors of society. The United States society has brought in different aspects of the different American groups to build a unique identity. The unique identity incorporates the following attributes of its members. America is portrayed as the land of opportunities and the different groups have contributed different material to support this concept.

The communal living and artistic traditional trends of the Native Americas has created a sense of origin for the American nation. The people of the first liberation and those who fort the war for liberation of America are associated by the image of the natives. The African American society brought in the aspect of music and sport to the community. They excelled in production of motivational musical material and excelled in a contact sport. They brought in the spirit of freedom and achievement in the society (Schaefer, 2011).

The Hispanic American community added culture to the American society. The deep cuisine and cultural concept enriched the American tradition. The Muslim and Arab Americans brought in the sense of religion and belonging. Their deep-rooted belief in family and chastity brings in the sense of belonging in families of the United States. The Jewish community brings in the sense of religion and tradition. It portrays the American culture as highly religious in the tradition of Americans.

All the different identities of the different groups in America consolidate as one to make and American society. With the specs of each community put together to create a unique social concept that portrays America as a land of opportunity that serves god and believes in tradition.

In the employment sector of the United States, we see the American communities employed in their strengths. The African Americans flock the entertainment and sports scene. The Hispanic population is majorly caretakers due to their cultural nature. The Chinese fill the traditional medicine, food and culture jobs.

The Native Americans are political in nature while the Jews base their businesses on art and culture. The sectors are not selective or discriminative in employment as the society intermingles in filling the vacancies. The tendency to do what one deems best influences the number of the community members in the field.

References

Cornell, S. E., & Hartmann, D. (2007). Ethnicity and race: making identities in a changing world. New York: Pine Forge Press.

Harvey, C. P., & Allard, M. J. (2009). Understanding and Managing Diversity (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Schaefer, R. T. (2011). Racial and Ethnic Groups (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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