Knowledge of Minorities in America Helps Transform Individual World View, Essay Example

Americans dearly hold the belief that America’s unique ‘melting pot’ culture has been a result of its democratic values and adherence to the American way of life. ‘America can do no wrong’ is a belief that resounds in most blue and white collar America where ‘pursuit of happiness’ is a legitimate and valid goal in which difficult phases in the development of the American nation are conveniently forgotten. This essay argues that examination of America’s minorities clearly broaden individual world view as it brings to fore some ground realities that are often swept under the carpet in the American collective memory.

It is undoubted that America is a country of immigrants. The earliest settlers were Protestant Christians wishing to escape the atrocities of the Catholic Church in Europe.  The same Protestant Christians who had left Europe denouncing persecution now inflicted greater injustice on the natives whom they called as heathen and  vermin who deserved to be exterminated “in order that the territory may be habitable by man” (Ellis 235). The Indian wars effectively decimated the Red Indians and forever marginalized them to sanctuaries and reservations on the edge of mainstream American life. The fact that over 620, 000 Union and Confederate soldiers (Catton and McPherson 1) fought a civil war over the issue of slavery showed a country deeply divided over ideology, ethics and morals. Immigrants however, changed the tapestry of American society. The German immigrants brought with them typical German efficiency that helped build America’s scientific establishment, infrastructure, industry and entertainment enterprises. The Irish immigrants helped man America’s armies, firefighters and the police force. Chinese immigrants despite facing unprecedented hostility in the period 1885 to 1943 and then again in the sixties, exuded values of Confucianism, hard work and perseverance that today have made them the largest and most prosperous ethnic group among Asian Americans. Similarly,   immigrants from India brought with them the Hindu way of life, an emphasis on family values, and academic orientation making significant contribution to the Silicon Valley, NASA and ‘hi-tech’ industries. America’s Mexican ‘problem’ stemmed more from the economic failure of the Mexican government.  It is however, these very Mexican immigrants who toil away in the sweatshops, pizzerias, meat shops and provide cheap manual labor so that the mainstream American society can prosper.

In conclusion, it can be reiterated that America’s unique ‘melting pot’ culture had not been without blemishes. America did do grievous wrong in its treatment of Native Americans and the African American community. America did show bias against oriental migrants and have continued to vex over the influx from its Southern neighbor. However, America did get its larger macro domestic policies right. It recognized the need for a free liberal democracy and put into place ameliorative ‘affirmative actions’ that have helped this patchwork of varied cultures and communities to contribute positively and effectively to the American Dream.

Works Cited

Catton, Bruce and James M McPherson. The Civil War. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004.

Ellis, George. The Red Man and the White Man in North America From its Discovery to the Present Time. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1882.