America the Unbeautiful To the thousands of immigrants that come to America every year it may seem like a better place to live and raise their families. Considering many of the places that they are migrating from it may just be a much better place. But America also has its downfalls. One of those downfalls is that although we are known as being a unified nation, in fact we are not. There are many things that separate us, our society is not one. We are divided into several groups. The main reason for this is stereotypes that lead people to believe that certain groups of people possess characteristics that may not be true of that group. These stereotypes lead to the many other consequences, such as racism and segregation. In America stereotypes have created an unequal society for those who are native to America and those who migrate here. In the everyday life of an American we deal with the cost of having a very judgmental population. Our society in America is divided into different groups. We call these groups classes. Where a person stands, depends on many things. The first thing that is taken into consideration when placing people into these classes is they’re cultural background. When many people see a Black American or Latin American they assume that they are poor or uneducated. Although this is not always the truth, this is an effect of stereotyping. The assumption that these people come from the ghetto or bad neighborhoods leads to struggles for the person in their daily lives. Many times things such as finding a nice place to live are an uphill battle for people of color. In the short piece “Silent Dancing,” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, the writer tells of her experiences growing up as a Latina. One example she used is when her father was trying to find a home for his family. Even though he was nicely dressed in his military uniform he was turned down because of his Spanish background. The landlord ask Cofer’s father “You Cuban?”(47), though he was actually Puerto Rican it made no difference to that man at the door. The man already had his own idea in his mind, as do many Americans, that immigrants are poor and unable to afford to live in nice neighborhoods. This problem occurs not only for Latinos but Blacks, Native Americans, and any person of non Anglo decent face it as well. Another thing that categorizes people in our country is the amount of income that people earn. We are considered lower, middle class or upper class, depending on how much money we make. For the upper class people this may not seem so much as a problem, after all they have the money to buy everything they need and live in the best of neighborhoods and have all the material things they could ever want. The problem is for those who work hard every day and live paycheck to paycheck, or those who can’t find a job at all. Again stereotyping occurs in the business world. Even the most educated people have a hard time finding a good job because of their ethnicity. Many business owners have it in their minds that people who are not white come from bad backgrounds and are criminals that cannot be trusted. This can be very discouraging for people who have worked hard to better themselves and are turned down based on a general assumption. We all just want to make enough money to survive and not struggle through life. After all this is the reason many immigrants came to America in the first place. In a piece “Changing America” by Joel L. Swerdlow, when a group of immigrant students are discussing life as an immigrant teenager one boy gives a perfect example of how they are almost forced to give up their culture and pretend that they are someone they are not. The boy states “when you go to apply for a job, you have to act white” (17). This is how many feel when they go out to try to find a job: they feel as if they need to act as though they belong to the group that is known to be wealthy and educated in order to get the position they’ve applied for. If it weren’t for the stereotyping that happens in the business world everyone could find a job and make enough money to survive. One more thing that segregates us as a country is the fact that stereotyping has an effect on the people being stereotyped. Groups begin to be embarrassed of their backgrounds or believe that they are all the things that people say about them. This leads people to separate themselves from society. Many non white groups feel as though they can only go to the schools that are not highly rated academically or that they have to live in the bad neighborhoods in order to not deal with the criticism. There are many who even refuse to speak English because they are afraid they will be ridiculed for not saying things correctly. In Cofer’s piece her father made the family act as though they were white. He made them isolate themselves from other Latinos because of the ridicule he had endured when he first came to the United States. Cofer states this about her mother, “she had been given strict orders by my father to keep the doors locked, the noise down, ourselves to ourselves.”(46) This was her father’s way of making sure they didn’t stand out in a place that at one time was mostly whites and was now being considered the barrio because it was being taken over by Puerto Ricans. Another way people separate themselves is by believing that they are only good enough to be with people of the same decent. In the story “Like Mexicans” by Gary Soto the grandmother in the story tells him that he needs to marry a Mexican girl. According to Soto she called everyone that wasn’t Mexican, black, or Asian an Okie. When discussing with her grandson who he was to marry she states, “No Okies, hijo” (202), and she would use her son who was married to an “Okie” woman as an example of how it would never work. This kind of situation happens a lot because in America interracial marriages or commitments are frowned upon. Especially when an Anglo person is seen with someone who is of another ethnicity; people think he or she is bringing herself down by being with that person. For these reasons children are brought up being taught that they are to stick to their own cultural group and not do anything that would make them stand out and make themselves vulnerable to ridicule. As we all know America is a melting pot of different cultures. If we are going to allow people to migrate here and become citizens of our country we need to also be willing to accept these groups of people and not be so judgmental. It is unfair to make people feel undeserving of all the rights we have as Americans. Assuming that all Blacks are criminals, or all Latinos are uneducated, or immigrants are poor is unfair. We all should have an equal opportunity to live our lives to the fullest. Stereotyping people will never fully go away but if people are at least given a chance to prove that they are not true we would be a more united country. Everyone would have a chance to educate themselves, be employed in more than just factories, and earn an income that is suitable for families to survive and not worry about struggling. Our society would be more equal and less divided if stereotyping would stop. Works Cited Cofer, Judith Ortiz. “Silent Dancing.” Ideas Across Time: Classic and
Contemporary Readings for Composition. Ed. Igor Webb. New York: Mcgraw-Hill, 2008 45-52
Soto, Gary. “ Like Mexicans.” The College Writer: A Guide to Thinking, Writing, and
Researching. Ed. Randall VanderMey, Verne Meyer, John Van Rys, and Dave Kemper. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004 202-204
Swerdlow, Joel L. “Changing America (2001)” Ideas Across Time: Classic and
Contemporary Readings for Composition. Ed. Igor Webb. New York: Mcgraw- Hill, 2008 11-19