Issues of Race and Ethnicity, Essay Example

Issues of race and ethnicity are very specific for the USA – the country has a highly multicultural society that has gone through a diverse and complicated period of assimilation and harmonization. And still, it is impossible to state that all incongruence has been settled; even now one can see a realm of paradoxes and problems governing multicultural relationships in the USA. These problems mostly reveal themselves in education, access to labor, welfare and disputes about class belonging connected with race. All these aspects of the problem are common in the USA, showing the true nature of multiculturalism in the USA (Steinberg, 2000).

The information on class division based on race that existed in the USA since the moment of its creation is supported by many authors: the main negative impact was witnessed (and is still witnessed) by African Americans and Mexicans, Chinese etc. The discrimination history of the USA was not limited only to education or access to employment, but was also realized in school segregation, racial districting, language politics and national identity considerations (Steinberg, 2000). All these facts, when explored in detail, uncover the true nature of the democratic, diverse and multicultural nature of the USA.

I found out much about the Irish Americans as well, noting how much discrimination and sufferings they also suffered in the USA; it is known that in 1860s, at the period of intensifying struggle between Americans and the British, there was intense resistance against Irish, and they were even compared to black slaves in their position in the American society (Irish Emigrants, 2003). The Irish suffered mostly from deeply-rooted stereotypes that Americans had concerning Irish as a part of the British nation, and it was very interesting for me to learn about the notes “No Salesmen, No Irish” and “No Irish Need Apply” at the houses signaling that Irish were absolutely not welcome in any family in the USA. Besides, the information about the Know Nothing Party that fought against all immigrants, Irish included, and claimed that America should be ruled only by Americans (Irish Emigrants, 2003).

References

Irish Emigrants (2003). Retrieved May 23, 2010, from http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~el6/presentations/Irish_Americans_S2_WS2003/index.htm

Steinberg, S. (2000). Race and ethnicity in the United States: issues and debates. Wiley-Blackwell.