A Different Mirror: The Making of Multicultural America

A Different Mirror: The Making of Multicultural America (3-20)

Quote: “Within the lifetime of young people today, Americans of European ancestry will become a minority.”

Analysis: I am awakened by this quote. Not so much in a bad way, but in an eye opening way. I personally grew up in a predominantly “white” community, with three African Americans in my graduating class of 140. The fact that in our lifetime Europeans will no longer be the majority will just be different and take some getting used to. Not that it will be bad, but it indeed will be different. As a whole I believe that it is a good thing for America though, in order to uphold its true values.

Quote: “Assimilation is slow, but inevitable.”

Analysis: I don’t know for sure how I feel about this statement. Picking it apart from both sides, I see the good in assimilation, but I also know that that’s how tradition is lost. Tradition is good in my opinion, but I also feel that in some ways assimilation happens naturally. It comes with life, someone sees something being done and decides to do so as well. This is not forced in the severity that the author describes, but I do not believe that all assimilation is evil or bad, it’s simply inevitable.

Omi And Winant,”Racial Formations”

Quote: “White is seen as a “pure” category.”

Analysis: This is a very depressing quote, to me, being that none of us as individuals are “white”. Along with that “white” is a socially constructed race because there is no true “white American”. With that being said, especially in society today with the mixtures of races in relationships, almost all of us have different combinations of origins and background roots.

Quote: “In the United States, individuals who are actually “black” by the logic of hypo-descent have attempted to skirt the discrimination barriers imposed by law and custom by attempting to “pass” for “white”.”

Analysis: In 2013 I traveled abroad to Europe, specifically Spain, France and Italy. In France in particular there was a vast mixture of “white” and “black” people. With that, I also noticed that to them, being a certain race or color does not define you like it does here. It’s very surprising how much more accepting society is in Europe compared to the US. Our nation is supposed to be founded as a melting pot of culture, yet we are more racist, judgemental, stereotypical and oppressive than the European nations many of our ancestors left to come here. I find that perplexing and it makes me question many of the values that we say we stand for.