Diversity Essay, Research Paper

Casey Knapp

Dr. Jordan

Humanities 002

4/27/98

Diversity in the American Society

For years America has been considered a “melting pot” containing people of all backgrounds who have come to this land to make a new start as one. The promise of America was the promise of equal opportunity – regardless of class, religion or ethnic origin. “However, Native Americans had been forced off to reservations, African Americans left the segregated South to find themselves living in the segregated inner cities of the North. Many Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans were living in Spanish-speaking neighborhoods with strong ties to their own culture.” (laGuardia 84) Perhaps a “mosaic” would be a more apt description of the United States with different particles fitted together in a larger pattern as a whole.

In Anna Quindlen’s short story, “The Mosaic vs. The Myth,” she gently shows the reader that “it is foolish to forget where you came from.” (Quindlen 86) Almost every American has ancestral roots from another place on the planet. Quindlen discusses the ethnic differences of Ms. Miller’s third grade class to show how America has changed and is changing.

However, some things have not changed through the generations. When “times are bad, we blame the newcomers, whether it’s 1835 or 1991.” (Quindlen 86) When there is an easy path to take that becomes a quick fix many will take it. This would be the same as finding a scapegoat for the problems of a society although they are only trying to make a living for themselves. Immigrants want the same things that people who are already here want, but the accessibility for the immigrants may be worse off if they do not know anyone and do not have any place to live.

Some Americans seemed to have forgotten their heritage, or are just ashamed of the past. Many find the newcomers as a threat to mainstream American culture. Perhaps it is viewed as a threat to America if foreigners can compete almost “too well” as portrayed in the short story “Legion Bars Immigrant From Scholars’ Camp,” by Dirk Johnson. Pang Thao, an outstanding student, who’s “resume sparkled above the rest,” (Johnson 88) was rejected by the camp because she was not a citizen of the United States. Although she has lived in the United States since she was two months old and will be a citizen in the matter of months, “rules are rules.”

Americans supposedly encourage assimilation and achievement. We say we want immigrants to learn the values of American society, “But then we turn around and exclude these people from the very institutions that imbue those values.” (Johnson 88) Americans have become hypocritical towards their own society and people. We all have an immigrant ancestor, one who believed in America; one who, daring or duped, took sail for a new home.

Americans complain with stereotypes of newcomers getting more welfare, not paying taxes, and are not loyal to America. But there seems to be an even greater tragedy portrayed in this story of Pang Thao. Many Americans have been caught up in a conceded notion that they are superior to these other people. Some people believe “that being born in the United States is a virtue.” (Johnson 90) Although they are mixture of all kinds of races and creeds they have no sense of who they really are. They have forgotten their past and are in danger of losing it forever. “The difference between an “American” and newcomer is the color of skin and background. And many times that is it.” (Johnson 90)

Some people are still pushing for the “melting pot” of society to share a common language and a common culture. “Their children would already be new Americans, growing up in a world of baseball, hot dogs, chewing gum, and Coca Cola.” (laGuardia 84)

As a result of political and social changes over recent years the majority of people have shifted to the idea of America being a “mosaic” rather than the myth of being a “melting pot.” Children learn today that “America has provided a safe haven for many different groups and has allowed them to maintain their cultural heritage or to assimilate, or – as is often the case – to do both; the choice is theirs, not the state’s. They learn that cultural pluralism is one of the norms of a free society; that differences among groups are a national resource rather than a problem needing to be solved.” (Ravitch 101)

The United States has become somewhat more accepting over the years as perceptions of people have changed but we are still inflexible to change our previous ideas about culture, race, and gender. The gender aspect is revealed in the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, as Janey is suppressed and expected to conform to Joe’s idea about what a wife should be like. Joe says a “woman’s place is in the home.” (Hurston 40)

At this time in history this was a socially acceptable view. As time passed through recent decades many have come to realize that the woman being in the home was a very narrow-minded idea about our culture.

This concept of being narrow-minded could also be related to the American Dream and the feelings about immigrants who have come to start a new life. Many may argue that these immigrants do not attempt to learn the American culture and can only hurt the society that we live in. Ten years from now we may look back on these thoughts and realize that although they were socially acceptable they were not correct. Many of these people add to the culture and actually create the true American culture.

Many Americans try to teach their kids right from wrong. Parents will tell their own children that they need to be accepting of other cultures and rituals. They tell their young ones to work hard and to make allies with people of different origins. Parents do not always practice what they preach though and children get the wrong idea about society and how the world works.

We have become a hypocritical society modeling for our children a lethargic attitude towards life while talking about cut throat laws of business and working hard to achieve their goals. The laziness aspect of our society is portrayed in the short story, “A City of Neighborhood,” by Harvey Milk. When he states that the world is in a “19- or 24-inch view,” (Milk 113) he is referring to the masses of obese people watching television allowing their perception of society to be dictated to them through the media.

The media can influence our thoughts and perceptions about the world, other people, and ourselves. Sometimes we may confuse ourselves to the point that we say things without really thinking out what we are saying. We say that immigrants should go back to where they came from, except the majority of us who live in the United States immigrated from somewhere.

We have convinced ourselves of the myth that the United States is a “melting pot” of people where we can all live together in harmony with the same ideas and goals. It would be inevitable for all of us to get along because we all think the same. Well, life is not this way. America has become more of a “mosaic” with different languages and different cultures adding to what we know as the American society.

1. Hurston, Zora Neal. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishers Inc., 1937

2. Johnson, Dirk. “Legion Bars Immigrant from Scholars Camp.” American Voices: Culture and Community. Ed. Dolores la Guardia and Hans P. Guth. Mouhntain View, CA: Mayfile Publishing Co., Third Edition, 1998. 88-90.

3. Ravitch, Diane. “Multiculturalism and the Common Center.” American Voices: Culture and Community. Ed. Dolores la Guardia and Hans P. Guth. Mouhntain View, CA: Mayfile Publishing Co., Third Edition, 1998. 101-107.

4. Milk, Harvey. “A City of Neighborhoods.” American Voices: Culture and Community. Ed. Dolores la Guardia and Hans P. Guth. Mouhntain View, CA: Mayfile Publishing Co., Third Edition, 1998. 113-117.

5. Quindlen, Anna. “The Mosaic vs. The Myth.” American Voices: Culture and Community. Ed. Dolores la Guardia and Hans P. Guth. Mouhntain View, CA: Mayfile Publishing Co., Third Edition, 1998. 85-87.