There’s Something Fishy about the American Identity Defining the American identity is akin to impossible when one considers the distinct and differing nationalities that have congregated within the American borders. How can we express ourselves as one people? It is my opinion that we cannot. We cannot create a label or template that is “American”, due to the rich variety of ethnicities that call the United States home. These various nationalities converge to contribute individual components of their cultures creating the structure of American society. Ishmael Reed’s “America: The Multinational Society” investigates certain notions used to describe the complement of the American populace. Reed’s analysis shifts from the melting pot analogy …show more content…
They have been granted specific privileges that allow for some self-governing that actually can and have proven to be detrimental in their ability to effectively legislate their people and lands. Jurisdiction of crimes can be difficult enough to establish without further compounding the issue by adding loopholes within laws that aid criminals. In Erdrich’s novel, Lark states, “I won’t get caught…I’ve been boning up on law…Things are the wrong way around…But here in this place I make things the right way around for me” (Erdrich 161). Lark’s statement clearly indicates that he knew he was committing a crime but because of how the laws are written, he also knew jurisdiction could not be placed and therefore he had no fear of being convicted. The legislation of Native American separatist laws for rights and lands are often ineffective because they are superseded, altered or taken into question by laws of the American government. Disunity of individual Native American civilizations in relation to the rest of America and its government is not indicative of a meshing within all of the American people and the assimilated melting …show more content…
Enforced imprisonment in internment camps of Japanese-Americans during World War II is another discrimination America has doled out to a specific nationality or culture. However, this story is a bit different because the narrator, Jeanne, spends a good portion of her life desperately trying to ingratiate and assimilate herself into the preferred white American society. Jeanne was born in the United States and therefore, is an American citizen; yet, because of her heritage she is met with prejudice, unwelcome and unacceptance. Following her family’s internment, Jeanne returns to school and one of her peers was amazed that she could speak English. Jeanne realizes that she is not viewed as an individual, but judged and stereotypically lumped with others based solely on her appearance. Being an Asian fills Jeanne with shame she commits to conforming to white society through her attire, activities, and interactions with her peers, but is frequently met with prejudice and opposition. Again, this does not demonstrate the widespread acceptance of all people being invited to become a part of the defined American nationality’s melting
Throughout humanity, human beings have been faced with ethnic hardships, conflict, and exclusion because of the battle for authority. Hence, in human nature, greed, and overall power consumes the mind of some people. Groups throughout the world yearn for the ability to be the mightiest one. These types of conflicts include ethnic shaming, racial exclusion, physical and verbal abuse, enslavement, imprisonment, and even death. Some of these conflicts were faced in all parts of Europe and the Pacific Region during World War II. During this dark time in history, people like Miss.Breed from Dear Miss Breed took initial action in what she thought was right, and gave hope to Japanese Internment Camp children by supplying books and
Although Americans vary widely in ethnicity and race and minorities are far from sparse, racism has never been in short supply. This has led to many large scale issues from Irish immigrants not begin seen as Americans during the Irish famine, to Mexican-American citizens having their citizenship no longer recognized during the Mexican Cession, all the way to Japanese internment camps during World War II. Both Dwight Okita and Sandra Cisneros Both give accounts of the issue from the perspective of the victims of such prejudice. Rather than return the injustice, both Okita and Cisneros use it to strengthen their identity as an American, withstanding the opinion of others.
Beginning in March of 1942, in the midst of World War II, over 100,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully removed from their homes and ordered to relocate to several of what the United States has euphemistically labeled “internment camps.” In Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston describes in frightening detail her family’s experience of confinement for three and a half years during the war. In efforts to cope with the mortification and dehumanization and the boredom they were facing, the Wakatsukis and other Japanese-Americans participated in a wide range of activities. The children, before a structured school system was organized, generally played sports or made trouble; some adults worked for extremely meager wages, while others refused and had hobbies, and others involved themselves in more self-destructive activities.
The ability for people to look at a situation from a different perspective is vital in today’s globalized society. Diversity is the most important core attribute we share that gives us a new perspective to assess situations differently through our diverse backgrounds and upbringings. Unlike Patrick J. Buchanan’s argument in his essay titled “Deconstructing America,” diversity is not a burden, but rather a necessity in America’s culture. Conversely, Fredrickson 's essay titled, “Models of American Ethnic Relations: A Historical Perspective,” illustrated a more precise version of American history that disproves Buchanan’s ethnocentric ideologies. Buchanan speaks of diversity as a narrow, one-way street. The imprecise interpretations of history
During World War II, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans in the western United States were forced into internment camps because the government felt as though the Japanese were dangerous if they were not relocated. These camps were usually in poor condition and in deserted areas of the nation. The Japanese were forced to make the best of their situation and thus the adults farmed the land and tried to maximize leisure while children attempted to enjoy childhood. The picture of the internee majorettes, taken by internee and photographer Toyo Miyatake, shows sixteen girls standing on bleachers while posing in front of the majestic Sierra Nevada mountain range and desolate Manzanar background. Their faces show mixed expressions of happiness, sadness and indifference, and their attire is elegant and American in style. With the image of these smiling girls in front of the desolate background, Miyatake captures an optimistic mood in times of despair. Though this photograph is a representation of the Manzanar internment camp and, as with most representations, leaves much unsaid, the majorette outfits and smiling faces give a great deal of insight on the cooperative attitudes of Japanese Americans and their youth's desire to be Americanized in this time.
..., determined to please their families to prove that they in fact could live a life of their own. However, as a part of the immigrant experience, emphasized throughout Uchida’s Picture Bride, immigrants faced numerous problems and hardships, including a sense of disillusionment and disappointment, facing racial discrimination not only by white men, but even the United States government. Immigrants were plagued with economic hardships, and were forced to survive day by day in terrible living conditions. After the tragedy at Pearl Harbor, the government further stripped Japanese American’s rights, as seen in internment camps. Japanese immigrants had to quickly realize that they had to tolerate these conditions and put their fantasies and illusions aside in order to build a new life for themselves and future generations.
Following the 1890’s, the world began to undergo the first stages of globalization. Countries and peoples, who, until now, were barely connected, now found themselves neighbors in a planet vastly resembling a global village. Despite the idealized image of camaraderie and brotherhood this may seem to suggest, the reality was only discrimination and distrust. Immigration to new lands became a far more difficult affair, as emigrants from different nations came to be viewed as increasingly foreign. In the white-dominated society of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the only way to truly count oneself as American was to become “white”. For this reason, the idea of race, a socially constructed issue with no real physical basis, has become one of the most defining factors which shape immigration and assimilation in the United States.
...outcast group of that set range attempt to conform themselves. The meaning of who is an American continues to change gradually over time, embracing different cultures and races into that definition, but the task is nowhere near completion as long as the hyphenated racial classifications and double consciousness still exist.
The United States as a country has always been an entity unique amongst the world’s myriad of nations: a conglomeration of cultures, ethnic groups and religious backgrounds from around the planet, all fused together to yield something entirely new. Since its very inception, those who dwell within its borders have attempted to ascertain the makeup of the American identity, in order to pin down how exactly one can come to be considered as an American themselves. This is inherently quite a subjective issue, but the conversation primarily boils down to three core factors that make the American people who they are: a dedication to preserving the natural rights of every human being, a belief in the importance of the individual in deciding their own
Harth, Erica. Last Witnesses: Reflections on the Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans. New York: Palgrave for St. Martin's, 2001. Print.
Nationalism is extreme loyalty and devotion to one particular nation, and many Americans are nationalistic about their country. But even though they are loyal to America, defining what it means to be a true American is tricky. Being American is one complex thing, but the concept of being American can not be fully grasped. What it means to be American may in fact be one of the biggest mysteries of all time. Indeed, discovering what it means to be a true American could possibly take an entire lifetime. One thing, however about all true Americans is certain: we are all alike in that each one of us is different from the Americans in important ways. We are diverse in our backgrounds, races, and religions. Nevertheless, we are exactly identical in the we feel toward our country, even though we express our pride in a million different ways.
Japanese-American internment camps were a dark time in America’s history, often compared to the concentration camps in Germany (Hane, 572). The internment camps were essentially prisons in which all Japanese-Americans living on the west coast were forced to live during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor Naval base in Hawaii. They were located in inland western states due to the mass hysteria that Japanese-Americans were conspiring with Japan to invade and/or attack the United States. At the time the general consensus was that these camps were a good way to protect the country, but after the war many realized that the camps were not the best option. Textbooks did not usually mention the internment camps at all, as it is not a subject most Americans want to talk about, much less remember. Recently more textbooks and historians talk about the camps, even life inside them. Some Japanese-Americans say that their experiences after being released from the internment camps were not as negative as most people may think. Although the Japanese-American internment camps were brutal to go through, in the long run it led to Japanese-Americans’ movement from the west coast and their upward movement in society through opportunities found in a new urban environment such as Chicago and St. Louis.
Are you born in America but you have a different heritage? During World War II, even though Mine Okubo was born in America, she was identified as a rival to the Americans because she had a Japanese background. This led to her being transferred to isolated internment camps. Louie Zamperini was an Olympian runner who enlisted into the army. After a disaster of his assigned plane crashing into the ocean, he was captured by the Japanese and transported to camps. Both Mine Okubo and Louie Zamperini had to endure challenges in the course of World War II. Japanese-American internees and American Prisoners of War (POWs) felt “invisible” and “resisted invisibility.”
Japanese Americans underwent different experiences during the Second World War, resulting in a series of changes in the lives of families. One such experience is their relocation into camps. Wakatsuki’s farewell to Manzanar gives an account of the experiences of the Wakatsuki family before, during and after the internment of the Japanese Americans. It is a true story of how the internment affected the Wakatsuki family as narrated by Jeanne Wakatsuki. The internment of the Japanese was their relocation into camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed by the naval forces of Japan in 1941. The step was taken on the assumption that it aimed at improving national security. This paper looks at how internment impacted heavily on Papa’s financial status, emotional condition and authority thus revealing how internment had an overall effect on typical Japanese American families.
The age old question that many ask today is “what is an American?” America is continued to be called the “melting pot” of the world. This statement refers to the combination of different cultures and ethnicities throughout the United States. The diversity of America should not take away from the history and foundation it was found upon. ...