America being a melting pot is a controversial issue, throughout America there are hundreds of different races yes, but that does not mean that there is not racism. This is shown in everyday life and people manage to fail to notice that there is racism going on or they are too oblivious because they are too caught up in their own personal life or just ignore the fact because it does not happen or pertain to them. Yes America is said and known to be the land of the free, problem is many minorities in America feel as if their freedom is extremely limited upon being looked down to. That being said America is not and may not be one for a long time a melting pot and racism will continually be constant in America that is, if people do not overcome their fears of people being different than they are.
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African Americans in both the North and South had to take advantage of opportunities to create Black owned businesses and Black schools. Black businessmen, barbers, doctors, lawyers, and many others began to build and service their locations around Black communities all over the country and primary near the church to obtain a market. Some African American businesses ventured into southern white territories, (awkward working)-risking the fate of Will Brown, being lynched for trying to compete with White storeowners in the Jim Crow South. Still, Blacks marched on in spite constant pressure even from Black leaders to go another route. Booker T. Washington encouraged the thought of education and Blacks owning land, however, he did not encourage Blacks to temper-tamper with professionalism and challenging White southerners. For example, "…a KKK mob burns a cross on the lawn of a black family that has moved into a formerly white neighborhood" (Wachtel 541). Though this group is still around in several areas today they do not have much of any power to do anything and still have some rituals from the past but not as bad as they used to be, but not many people are aware of this. The institutions that Blacks established were constantly under threats from KKK members and other white supremacy groups. Many Black churches were targeted, as they were the main source of southern Black information.
By virtue of these threats turning into violent attacks, many congregations along with their members migrated to Black societies in the North. This movement took with them southern Black businesses because their markets were leaving and they thrived on the Black population. They are unwilling to accept black people as their equals and will continue to feel this way until someone finds a solution about what to do with them. C.P. Ellis gets involved with the Klu Klux Klan and moves up the ladder pretty quickly; he then tries to organize a youth group for the Klan (Terkel 521). Ellis involving younger generations will cause and help the KKK foundation expand which is the opposite of what is needed in America. Though the KKK is under the radar, if found and eliminated, that would be one more step closer to terminating racism.
Unfortunately the reason for racism still being around is because of the stereo-types of people. In Terkel's story, C.P. Ellis talks about how he was bitter and did not know who to blame so he blamed black people (Terkel 521). He only blames the black people for his problems because his father was a member of the Klan. If he was not influenced by his father's actions, he would not be blaming black people. In 2007, there was a massacre of 32 students and teachers at Virginia Tech by an immigrant madman (Buchanan 463). Either way, this resulted in leaving the families with racist views. The displeasure felt by these families and C.P. Ellis may remain present for the rest of their lives due to their inability to accept the diversity within this nation. This will then leave holes for them to displace their anger inappropriately. In addition to the previous scenarios, consider this, "…Two middle-class whites discuss their annoyance when a black youth passes by with a boom box loudly blaring rap music, saying, 'Kids like that have no consideration; they think they own the streets'" (Wachtel 542). Since there are some whites who are unfair and quick to judge most black teenagers is because of all the stereo-typical things are said about young black people, this only end in discrimination regarding all blacks or just completely putting them in one category for the rest of their lives because they are black. Despite the fact that this will also create a stereotype that all black teenagers are disrespectful.
Racism is a hatred for a variety of different races generally not just one. Most racism is considered to be between white people and black people (Frederickson 563). White people are generally looked upon as the dominating race of America, only because of the fact that people feel that whites are the dominating race throughout many areas of America. Many people of other races feel like they have to fit in, or in order to be considered acceptable or treated equally and fair. "If I stayed away from Spanish, stereotypes would stay away from me (Barrientos 562)." It is really sad that people feel this way about their culture. If people think that they need to totally disregard and stay away from their culture, America is definitely not the melting pot that we think it is. A lot of people do not realize that no matter what color you are, there are going to be or there already are prejudice thoughts about you and your race. No one is safe in America when it comes to that and everyone in America needs to just understand and know about the country that they live in. "I have seen that the world is to the strong regardless of a little pigmentation more or less (Hurston 916). I agree that Hurston is saying that no matter what race or color you are, you should have the same amount of equality opportunities. People should not feel obligated to be like everyone else. They should be able to show their individuality with their culture and who they are. Before the 1940s, African Americans were deemed ineligible for assimilation because of their inferiority to whites (Frederickson 567). Now a day everyone should be able to assimilate and show who they really are without being judged or frowned upon just because what that person does is not a part of another person's culture. Racism was such a big thing several years ago, it was almost is as if it was a sport to be played. So many people were involved in things such as hate crimes and so on; it was everyday life as if it was just normal.
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A lot of the children will primarily direct their hostility for their parents' actions towards a weaker group of people, even their peers. This has no other route but to lead to prejudice towards other races. Due to frustration, "…people tend to blame others for something that is not their fault" (Parrillo 511). Self-justification, personality, and frustration are three main factors of prejudice. In order for one group to feel superior over others, they feel that they must mistreat others in order to establish self-confidence. They also will resent each other once hurtful things are said towards each other. This will leave these people thinking that it is okay to discriminate against members of the other group, enslave them, or even result in killing them. If a parent threatens to withdraw their love from a child, the child will be insecure and have much hostility (Parrillo 509). This will then lead to what is called displaced aggression. This is also known as scapegoating. "Self-justification involves denigrating a person or group to justify maltreatment of them" (Parrillo 507). If one or more groups cannot get along or misplace their anger, there will never be harmony between them. By doing so, they get into their minds that they are the best and no one else compares. "Racism remains a central fact of our life together, and in certain respects our racial divisions have become more rather than less intractable in recent years (Wachtel 544)." Additionally, the pressure to fit in creates the problem of letting the "dominant" race believe that they are better. For example, in Barrientos' story, she talks about her family embracing the notion of the American melting pot. Her parents wanted her and her siblings to be just like the whites; "they'd read in English, write in English, and fit into Anglo society beautifully" (Barrientos 561). This is more likely than none, looked upon as a negative which will then lead to other races thinking that they should be the top-notch or superior ones because the minorities are to live the same the lives. She also tried to fit in with her friends by pretending that there was nothing different about her from her friends. "Being native made me different from my other friends and as a teenager that's the last thing that you want" (Raymond 923). Because of their heritage, Raymond who sets aside mentioning that she was Native American, but only in order to blend in and be like her white friends. If her friends only knew that she was Native American and trying to be just like them, they would make her feel as she should be ashamed of being the person she was born to be. This is the push and thought process of making them they are the dominant race and she is giving in to them.
In the end, as long as select races believe that they are the dominant group and are unwilling to change, America cannot be a melting pot. A lot of evidence is present every day and it is apparent when viewed with careful consideration. If we can overcome the status of a dominant group, a quilt of races will be draped over America, thus ultimately creating utopia. Hopefully America's progress of defeating racism will one day exceed our expectations and be eradicated. We must all strive for equality and remind ourselves to accept others and their differences. America has made good progress, and we should not give up now. Nevertheless, until all of this has been achieved, America will maintain its status of being a non-melting pot unless the bad balances of ways that people think and put aside their prides, until then we will have much use-less potential in becoming a melting pot.
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