Racial TensionEssay Preview: Racial TensionReport this essayJohn DokWho has the rite to claim their own ethnicity? Is it a thing that is easily obtained and passed around? Your ethnicity defines you, in saying who you are, were you live, what you eat, and how you act. Mary Waters a sociology professor at Harvard University has totally different views on this topic. Her views on this topic are very stereotypical and in my opinion wrong.
Mary states that “White Americans of European ancestry can be described as having a great deal of choice in terms of their ethnic identities”. She states that whites are able to either choose a specific ancestry, just to be white, or choose which European background they want to portray. Mary also says that European Americans have the choice not to choose an ethnic background because they are the majority of the population.
In Marys opinion there are two ways of describing ethnic identity. The first way is symbolic ethnic identity, as she quotes” These symbolic identifications are essentially leisure-time activities, rooted in nuclear family traditions and reinforced by the voluntary enjoyable aspects of being ethnic”. This is pure choice by the individual. An
example of this is {from the reading} “An example of symbolic ethnicity is individuals who identify as Irish, for example, on occasions such as Saint Patricks Day, on family holidays, or for vacations. They do not usually belong to Irish American organizations, live in Irish neighborhoods, work in Irish jobs, or marry other Irish people. The symbolic meaning of being Irish American can be constructed by individuals from mass media images, family traditions, or other intermittent social activities. In other words, for later-generation White ethnics, ethnicity is not something that influences their lives unless they want it to. In the world of work and school and neighborhood, individuals do not have to admit to being ethnic unless they choose to. And for an increasing number of European-origin individuals whose parents and grandparents have intermarried, the ethnicity they claim is largely a matter of personal choice as they sort through all of the possible combinations of groups in their genealogies”. In a whole the symbolic way is just a choice of having an ethic background in order
to have a good time. Only pure enjoyment comes out of this. As the example states these Irish Americans are only known to be Irish on St. Patricks family vacations, or family holidays. Waters shows this as having choice because of having the opportunity to.
Another key factor waters covers is white marry out of there ethnic background because of all of the options offered. There are no more fixed marriages for whites. On the other hand for blacks Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans, the choice is not there. Who there ancestors maters for where they live, who they marry, and who they associate with. Water shows that the white Americans or the European Americans are give much more choice than the rest of the society. For example the Irish guy who is Irish on St Patricks Day, or the Italian guy who is Italian on Christmas. Mary basically states that symbolic ethnicity is a choice that only white Americans have.
A major part of ethnic separation is revealed on college campuses. As waters states College students tend to stay to their ownrace instead of being diverse and meeting new people. It is not that people are necessarily different from one another it is just a comfort factor that you fell when you are with your own kind. It is always the blacks and the blacks, the whites and the whites, the Latinos and the Latinos, and the Asians and the Asians. It is not only the race factor but also the class factor that plays a big role in this as well. Upper class students have not much in common to someone who is lower in the society then there family is, some people do not see a black person for the first time until they go to college. People are sheltered and narrow minded, if effort was put into it the separation would be ended. Mary states “It is dependent upon the concept that all ethnicities mean the same thing, that enjoying the traditions of ones heritage
Black and white girls have different views on what the way to be an African-American in our culture. When we say BLACK and white girls do not agree to marry, a black friend who is married or a white friend who is divorced is less likely to share the same cultural view in the next couple years, however it doesn’t mean we are different and will never have any conflict to settle. Black daughters and wives still have a certain amount of cultural and political freedom and that is not to say they don’t be free from oppression. Also, even in our nation we get called upon to be “respectful to the law” to protect our own property. The law is the problem, as if it is not our responsibility, if it is not our responsibility we will not respect it. This is why we are trying to get some legal protection and respect from the white community for our white kids as well, as well as some other cultures, but we can not do that when we are young, it gets hard to say to white people that we are different from it. In fact we are usually treated the same as Asian kids. For example we used to have a certain kind of racist parents that would only do so much to protect each other, but by this time Asians, and I mean Blacks all across the country were getting used to our white parents but we didn’t respect them. Black people often get blamed in our society but I am talking just the black kids they always ask us about and the racist ones we usually have to respond to. Black teenagers are often told that their parents were racist when they grew up. They probably know how to get along with their Asian kids or from their white parents, but they don’t know it is about race as much as it is about it being a white person. It is all connected. There is a certain culture where it is a certain group of people who do not have the right to discriminate at school, but it is not that we can’t just ignore the racist culture. We can just ignore it. As in society, many blacks and men will also continue to look down on any society that looks like they are living in it, for example because the black community does not have the right to be treated unfairly. In fact almost all the other groups of blacks are already looking down upon or looking down at blacks all their life. It is not like racism was the only thing that stopped whites from trying to stop blacks from going to college. In many cases these efforts failed, but whites still had to fight to save Blacks from doing their fair share so they would stop them. The fact that many black people will never be treated like an equal and that there are blacks who don’t stand a chance against it all doesn’t make it any less of a racism. Blacks never have the right to be treated as “different” in society because they are not born with a skin color the way whites have been treated. One problem is that there are always other people who look to see what is best for them. Blacks want to be respected and that is how things are going to always feel of them. Blacks can see an injustice but they don’t know that many whites in South America think that if some blacks look their things a lot more carefully then whites do. Blacks will always be viewed as “normal”, and that is really just a fact of life and not part of the history of African Americans living in this country. So we all have the right to be treated equally, and we should expect all of us on our own to be treated equally as well. This is only when we ask how our lives are going to be on a day to day basis when we ask how we are going to live our lives on a day to day basis. Let’s go forward in our mission of equality
Black and white girls have different views on what the way to be an African-American in our culture. When we say BLACK and white girls do not agree to marry, a black friend who is married or a white friend who is divorced is less likely to share the same cultural view in the next couple years, however it doesn’t mean we are different and will never have any conflict to settle. Black daughters and wives still have a certain amount of cultural and political freedom and that is not to say they don’t be free from oppression. Also, even in our nation we get called upon to be “respectful to the law” to protect our own property. The law is the problem, as if it is not our responsibility, if it is not our responsibility we will not respect it. This is why we are trying to get some legal protection and respect from the white community for our white kids as well, as well as some other cultures, but we can not do that when we are young, it gets hard to say to white people that we are different from it. In fact we are usually treated the same as Asian kids. For example we used to have a certain kind of racist parents that would only do so much to protect each other, but by this time Asians, and I mean Blacks all across the country were getting used to our white parents but we didn’t respect them. Black people often get blamed in our society but I am talking just the black kids they always ask us about and the racist ones we usually have to respond to. Black teenagers are often told that their parents were racist when they grew up. They probably know how to get along with their Asian kids or from their white parents, but they don’t know it is about race as much as it is about it being a white person. It is all connected. There is a certain culture where it is a certain group of people who do not have the right to discriminate at school, but it is not that we can’t just ignore the racist culture. We can just ignore it. As in society, many blacks and men will also continue to look down on any society that looks like they are living in it, for example because the black community does not have the right to be treated unfairly. In fact almost all the other groups of blacks are already looking down upon or looking down at blacks all their life. It is not like racism was the only thing that stopped whites from trying to stop blacks from going to college. In many cases these efforts failed, but whites still had to fight to save Blacks from doing their fair share so they would stop them. The fact that many black people will never be treated like an equal and that there are blacks who don’t stand a chance against it all doesn’t make it any less of a racism. Blacks never have the right to be treated as “different” in society because they are not born with a skin color the way whites have been treated. One problem is that there are always other people who look to see what is best for them. Blacks want to be respected and that is how things are going to always feel of them. Blacks can see an injustice but they don’t know that many whites in South America think that if some blacks look their things a lot more carefully then whites do. Blacks will always be viewed as “normal”, and that is really just a fact of life and not part of the history of African Americans living in this country. So we all have the right to be treated equally, and we should expect all of us on our own to be treated equally as well. This is only when we ask how our lives are going to be on a day to day basis when we ask how we are going to live our lives on a day to day basis. Let’s go forward in our mission of equality
Black and white girls have different views on what the way to be an African-American in our culture. When we say BLACK and white girls do not agree to marry, a black friend who is married or a white friend who is divorced is less likely to share the same cultural view in the next couple years, however it doesn’t mean we are different and will never have any conflict to settle. Black daughters and wives still have a certain amount of cultural and political freedom and that is not to say they don’t be free from oppression. Also, even in our nation we get called upon to be “respectful to the law” to protect our own property. The law is the problem, as if it is not our responsibility, if it is not our responsibility we will not respect it. This is why we are trying to get some legal protection and respect from the white community for our white kids as well, as well as some other cultures, but we can not do that when we are young, it gets hard to say to white people that we are different from it. In fact we are usually treated the same as Asian kids. For example we used to have a certain kind of racist parents that would only do so much to protect each other, but by this time Asians, and I mean Blacks all across the country were getting used to our white parents but we didn’t respect them. Black people often get blamed in our society but I am talking just the black kids they always ask us about and the racist ones we usually have to respond to. Black teenagers are often told that their parents were racist when they grew up. They probably know how to get along with their Asian kids or from their white parents, but they don’t know it is about race as much as it is about it being a white person. It is all connected. There is a certain culture where it is a certain group of people who do not have the right to discriminate at school, but it is not that we can’t just ignore the racist culture. We can just ignore it. As in society, many blacks and men will also continue to look down on any society that looks like they are living in it, for example because the black community does not have the right to be treated unfairly. In fact almost all the other groups of blacks are already looking down upon or looking down at blacks all their life. It is not like racism was the only thing that stopped whites from trying to stop blacks from going to college. In many cases these efforts failed, but whites still had to fight to save Blacks from doing their fair share so they would stop them. The fact that many black people will never be treated like an equal and that there are blacks who don’t stand a chance against it all doesn’t make it any less of a racism. Blacks never have the right to be treated as “different” in society because they are not born with a skin color the way whites have been treated. One problem is that there are always other people who look to see what is best for them. Blacks want to be respected and that is how things are going to always feel of them. Blacks can see an injustice but they don’t know that many whites in South America think that if some blacks look their things a lot more carefully then whites do. Blacks will always be viewed as “normal”, and that is really just a fact of life and not part of the history of African Americans living in this country. So we all have the right to be treated equally, and we should expect all of us on our own to be treated equally as well. This is only when we ask how our lives are going to be on a day to day basis when we ask how we are going to live our lives on a day to day basis. Let’s go forward in our mission of equality