The concept of race is a complicated topic, globally. Everyone walks on eggshells when talking about race, as they don’t want to say the wrong thing. Especially in America, oppression of ethnicities and races has been a fighting argument for centuries. In Dwight Okita’s poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066”, he dives into this topic with regards to World War II. As Okita takes the perspective of a young Japanese American girl being sent to internment camps, he shines a light on the shift of attitude towards Asian Americans across the country. Pat Mora, a Mexican-American author and poet, conveys her feelings on discrimination and racism in similar ways. In her poem “Legal Alien”, she shares her experiences of being bilingual and bicultural. …show more content…
By allowing the reader to feel her discomfort with herself and her identity, one can imagine or relate to how being a woman can make these problems even more difficult. Using her own point of view makes it easier for her to display her feelings in a way that is easier to digest for society. To feel the torment and tiring exertion of being not only an immigrant/first generation American, but also being a woman carrying that role helps readers deeply connect with the issues discussed in literature. While reading Okita’s story, it was clear that the meaning he laid down for his character was quite compelling. In similar ways, Pat Mora’s poem allowed the reader to be at their most vulnerable, by relating to her or putting themselves in her shoes for the first time. While Mora’s beautiful writing alone held a powerful message, after reading and analyzing Dwight Okita’s use of characters, description, and situations, the cultural issues Mora shared became a lot easier to understand and acknowledge. The issues discussed in both readings can relate to nearly anyone, yet, it may be hard to see that
In both texts, "Response to Executive Order 9066” by Dwight Okita, and “Mericans” by Sandra Cisneros, I will compare and contrast how the authors develop this theme. The theme is that no culture should be judged on their looks. In "Response to Executive Order 9066", they specify out Japanese and in "Mericans", they specify out Mexicans.
In “response to Executive order 9066” by Dwight Okia and “Merican” by Sandra Cisneros both develop the common theme of being both American as well as Immigrants through the literary devices of Allusion, Amplification, Analogy
In Miranda’s poem “Stories I Tell My Daughter,” she describes a girl who defends her identity and her honor when a boy at school questions her. Miranda states, “That day/ I took bloody sticks home to my mother,/ who said she expected nothing less/ from a girl/ who spoke/ to owls” (Indian Cartography 5-6). In the poem, “owls,” a symbol of intelligence and enlightenment, acts as a reminder of the important cultural connection between Native Americans and nature. The girl has reached enlightenment and new found strength because she realizes that she does not have to succumb to the white children’s abuse and she finally reacts to the exploitation. When referring to “mother,” one thinks of a caregiver and nurturer. The mother nurtures the daughter who has learned to defend herself and break social norms in order to protect her cultural identity. Finally, “bloody” implies violence and rage. When discussing indigenous poetry, the violence described typically refers to the bloodshed of the natives; however, ironically the blood in this poem results from an attack on a white person. Though Miranda does not encourage violence, she does encourage action from strong women when their cultural identities are being questioned. Likewise, Trask also connects strong women who break social norms with change. In her poem “Sons,” she addresses the social expectations of women and the familial obligations many of them abide by in their homes. Trask states, “I am slyly/ Reproductive: ideas/ books,/ history/ politics, reproducing/ the rope of resistance/ for unborn generations” (Light in the Crevice Never Seen 55-56). To begin, “resistance” refers to defiance and a refusal to conform. The speaker is assertively stating that she will serve as an activist for future Native Hawaiians who will
In this year 's presidential election there have been controversy given by one of the candidates, Mr. D. Trump describing my ethnic background as “me” being a rapist, drug dealer, and a person whose convicting criminal crimes. No ethnic group should be categories in these slots because it isn 't true no ethnic race is perfect we shouldn 't blame a whole community for something a small portion is responsible for. Christine Marin the author of Spanish lessons, wrote her life story growing up as a mexican- american and expressing the obstacles she went through, to get where she is right now. A voice. Garten Cook the author of Life with dyslexia, ashamed of having a disorder, having that fixed mindset of avoid making
The racial make-up of today’s America’s armed forces is so diverse; it would be easy for the newer generations to assume that the armed forces have always been diverse. However, black Americans were not always able to fight alongside white Americans. Despite the fact that black Americans have contributed in most, if not all, American battles, these forces were not integrated until Executive Order 9981, signed into law by President Truman in 1948. Executive Order 8802, signed by President Roosevelt, did prohibit racial discrimination in the national defense sector; nonetheless, this was signed in 1941, almost 21 years after the end of World War I. While not solely responsible for the course of events that lead to civil rights and more
In "Response to Executive Order 9066" and "Mericans" the tell a story of living in American, but no being treated as an American. These stories bring up the topic of the American Identity. They tell different stories but the same topic. they are discovering the American culture but in their own ways, and discovering new things.
Cultural diversity has helped us understand other culture contributions by learning about Japanese- American internment camps, 1960’s Harlem, and mexican american culture. To begin with, Japanese- American internment camps made America weaker but, when they got out of the camps it made America stronger. “A fellow came running down the wharf shouting that the Japanese had just bombed Pearl Harbor”(Houston, 6). This means that the Japanese who did nothing wrong were to get hurt. The bombing was the beginning point of the book and made it start all of the events. “Bare floors, blanket partitions, one bulb in each apartment dangling from a roof ceiling, and open ceilings overhead”(Houston, 28). This shows that the Americans
Joy Kogawa and Tim O’Brien: two authors that have wielded their mastery of the English language to yield literary masterpieces that reflect not only their own struggles, but the hardships of multitudes around them. In her acclaimed Obasan, Joy Kogawa illustrates the intense discrimination that was faced by Japanese-Canadians during World War 2, and provides many reflective anecdotes to give the reader some insight on her personal situation. Tim O’Brien accomplishes basically the same goal in The Things They Carried by giving the reader many brief stories about his time in the Vietnam War. These two books- though incredibly different on the surface - share a plethora of themes and symbology, as well as many similar events. They do not, however, emphasize or present these ideas in the same way. Each of these authors has a unique way of incorporating their own themes or values into their writing, which gives the reader an entirely different view of what may be happening.
The Asian Americans came to America with a common goal: to seek work and make money. In the article The Centrality of Racism in Asian American History, Takaki tries to frame the Asian American history and describe the hardships and unfair treatment absorbed by the Asian American. Takaki asserts:
...aced the Japanese in camps, discriminated the Chinese and placed anti-Asian laws to stop their immigration into this country, as well as the segregation against blacks just a few decades ago. In recent years, we have seen laws in states limiting Latino rights as well and gay rights. There will always be restrictions placed upon new faces, as there have always been. What this article reinforces is that we are no different to those of the past. History is doomed to always repeat itself, and restrict that which is different. We always hear of our country being a melting pot and multicultural. But what we do not always hear about in classrooms is the hardships people must go through in order to be included and rise above the discrimination. This type of article would serve well as an opener for discussions about tolerance, transnationalism and acceptance of all cultures.
Throughout American history, society has grown from the many different aspects of cultures coming together as one. Many of our families leave their homeland to come to America for more opportunities where we often are told to embrace our cultures yet to a certain extent. While growing up, we adapt to American culture without realizing that we are even allowing ourselves to hide our own cultural beliefs and upbringings. The two main characters within “Puertoricanness” by Aurora Levins Morales and “Elena” by Pat Mora both demonstrate an interest in the significance of race in contemporary American society. Within both readings, it is implied by many of those who believe that if we assimilate to American culture that it will open more doors for equal opportunities since everyone would equally be the same, although many people later on attempt to regain old cultural upbringings to their daily life without trying to fully assimilate to American culture.
The waves of Asian immigrants have led to, however, a new wave of discrimination. Martin Marger, the author of Race and Ethnic Relations, describes the acts of discrimination against Asian Americans in recent years have been simple cases, but it has started to become more overt and violent. Asian Americans have been more relatively successful than other ethnic groups (Marger, 2006). It seems that the discrimination may be the result of their economic and educational prowess over the long-standing dominant white Americans. One of the most compelling examples is the story of Vincent Chin. Chin, a young Chinese engineer, had been beaten to death by two white American workers who claimed that his kind was the problem of their unemployment (Chin, n.d.). This incident laid out the message that these two murderers are willing display their animosity in order to promote that they want to maintain the system of a single worldview. While the Vincent Chin event was culture shock, it brought clearer movement towards assimilation, which has overall been, demonstrated through the success the Asians’ adaptation to America’s seemingly one-sided society. Although it seems like the Asian immigrants chose to migrate to America for sitting opportunities, others had no choice. In The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir, Kao Kalia Yang experiences first hand what like to narrowly escape
Richard Rodriguez is known for his notorious figure for his stance against affirmative action and bilingual education because of his book “Hunger of Memory.” Rodriguez became a spokesperson for Americanization, through countless of interviews, for instance Bill Moyers, which has enhanced his credibility. “I became, because of my book, a notorious figure among the Ethnic Left in America” (Rodriguez 242). Added to his credibility he was the editor for the Pacific News Service and contributing editor for Harper’s Magazine. (Shuter 1). Rodriguez gains trust from the audience by exclaiming “Diversity is our strength, we say. There is not an American president who would say anything else: We are a country made stronger by our individuality, by our differences”
Social injustice is a problem that take continues everywhere you look, whether its in schools or the work place. It serves as a serious dilemma which is overlooked. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua, she tells the story of how people who speak Chicano Spanish receive these types of oppression in the United States. If you were to leave out her personal narration, it would be more difficult to see her testimony. Her personal accounts help place each reader in her footsteps.
On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. stood up and spoke out about inequality from an African American’s perspective during the March on Washington. About forty years later, two women, Sara Abou Rashed, a Palestinian, and Diane Burns, a Native American, write about their struggles in America with inequality and hate speech. Even though Burns was older than Rashed when she wrote her poem, Rashed can pull at the heartstrings of her readers far better than Burns can. She executes this by using the appeal of pathos when connecting to her losses, and by using metaphors to sympathize with her audience in the poem "Welcome to America"(2016). The first and main difference in how both authors connect with their audience is how they emphasize