...Funny in Farsi Synthesis Theoretical neuroscientist Jeff Hawkins once said: "In grade school, I was taught that the United States is a melting pot. People from all over the world come here for freedom and to pursue a better life. They arrive with next to nothing, work incredibly hard, learn a new language and new customs, and in a generation, they become an integral part of our amazing nation." Firoozeh Dumas' memoir, Funny in Farsi, Pat Mora's poem "Legal Alien,” Anand Giridharadas Ted Talk “A tale of two Americas. And the mini-mart where they collided” and Richard Crowson’s political cartoon, “Great American Melting Pot,” all explain the hardships that lie within becoming a full-fledged American citizen. Gaining your legal documented citizenship...
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...They believed that it was a melting pot in which white people of different nationalities blended to create one culture. The term "melting pot" came from a play that opened in 1908. Nativism was a racist belief that native-born, white Americans were superior to immigrants. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act because of their hostility toward Chinese laborers. This was caused by nativists that backed their racism with dubious scientific rhetoric that linked the physical features of Chinese people to have a low IQ criminal tendencies. 4. The old immigrants were Protestants who came from Northern and Western Europe and came as families and saved money for the journey to the US. They had skills, trade, and education. New immigrants were unskilled, poor, Catholic or Jewish, and likely to live in cities. The majority of new immigrants came alone and came from Southern and Eastern...
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...Who am I? Currently as senior in college I am still figuring out how my culture has shaped the person I am today. I know that I am a young Puerto Rican girl earning a degree in a field dominated by males. Culture to me is simply a group of people that obtain certain beliefs and behaviors over an allotted amount of time because they live, learn, and grow together. Culture defines who we are and who we will become. At first glance people assume I am of Caucasian decent. While this is partially true, I am half Puerto Rican. Individuals that do not know me looked confused when I say my last name. Consequently, people often assume I am Mexican when they hear my last name. There is a stigma that any Spanish sounding name in Mexican. This is a lack...
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...“You are what you eat”. Americans love their Mexican food, whether from a tiny taqueria or a major chain like Chipotle or Taco Bell. But did you know that what we call Mexican food is really Mexican-American? This hybrid cuisine has been popularized in the states that border Mexico (like Texas, New Mexico and California) and is really an American invention. Now let’s see the differences and the similarities of this mix and what food means for every country. In the U.S, there really is no such this as “traditional” American food, simply because America is considered to be the “melting pot” of many different heritages and cultures. Cuisine will vary based on location, and is largely influenced by the people living in the area. Meanwhile in Mexico...
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...Identity Paper 27 October 2014 First Generation American-Mexican I am a first generation American-Mexican, I was born and raised in Northern California; Santa Rosa, CA., it is about one-hour from San Francisco, California. It is a place filled with various cultures from many different cultural background, customs, and traditions. The majority of individuals living Northern California are from Mexico as it borders the United States. While, growing up my school had a few American-Mexican: Chicano population, with the majority Caucasians and Asian. My school had few African-Americans. As a youth, I sought to grow up and assimilate into the American culture while maintain my cultural identity. As my identity makes me who I am today, and someone I am not. As I grew older, I learned what made the United States different amongst other nations as it was the melting-pot of various cultures from all around the world, in which made it unique from other countries. Furthermore, at Santa Rosa Junior College challenged my mentality to keep an open mind of others, in which I was blind, but each day at school meeting new people, and engaging in conversation with individuals asking them, various questions of what they wanted to do, what was their major, and what gave them passion to keep studying. I had to readjust my ideals about higher education. Higher education has help me find my identity, through knowledge. As I hold on to my customs and traditions that my parents have bestowed...
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...whose culture is reinforced by state institutions, might react skeptically to the United States that has diverse race and ethnicity. In various cultures in the U.S, there is a culture that has strong influence to the other cultures. It is difficult for foreigners to understand American culture not only because they are used to their cultures. There are three theories that American culture has been perceived by foreigners. They are the monoculturalist view, the multiculturalist view, and the pluralistic view. In the monoculturalist view theory, American culture is described by melting pot that means the way the different groups of immigrants came together in the U.S. A main idea of this theory is that a combination of different cultures have mixed together and recognized as one group. However, many people today do not agree this theory because of discrimination and segregation of certain culture groups in the past and also now such as African, Asian, and Native American, and Chinese, Irish, Italian, and Jewish that are the most recent immigrants. Therefore, the U.S. does not assimilate new cultures easily. The multiculturalist view theory focuses on various subcultures in the U.S. In this theory, American culture is described as the patchwork quilt. This means that the multiculturalists see the United States as a mosaic of separate and autonomous subcultures. They have never have been mixed. However, opponents disagree with this theory because this theory ignores the mixing of...
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...Serena Reavis ENG 111-0003S 4 June 2013 America: A Multinational Society The American author Ishmael Reed has written numerous novels, poems, and essays. In his essay, “America: A Multinational Society” Reed argues that America is viewed as a monocultural society, yet we cannot be monocultural because we are a nation of immigrants. Reed provides many arguments and examples from past and present-day America that prove America is a melting pot of cultures, and therefore is already a multinational society. Reed states that in any major city in America you can see evidence of this mixing of nationalities and cultures. For example, you can find Islamic mosques and hear airport commands in both English and Spanish. The mixing of nationalities and cultures is a growing movement that if or when it continues, will affect the majority of our country in just a few years. Already in Texas the largest minority, population is Mexican American. Reed goes on to talk about how, in Milwaukee, he heard a professor speak to a crowd about the African cultures’ influence in America, in an African language (instead of their native tongue of English). In this same city, another example of the mixing of cultures comes at a most unexpected place, the local McDonald’s. At this restaurant, the manager has hung paintings that depict African symbols and images. Even with all of this evidence of a mixing of cultures, Reed asserts that the “cultural Elect” of our country still holds on to...
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...Mexican-Americans throughout history has never been told truthfully and many people don’t know the history of Chicana/o’s. It all started with Manifest Destiny and the expansion of the United States into Mexico, which cause a huge fraud between them. Then turned into a war where Mexico lost the land and that’s how the creation of Mexican-Americans can to be. Chicana/o comes from a person of Mexican decent or origin but was born in the United States. Over the many heartbreaking years of history between the U.S and Mexico, it created a lot of conflict and difficulties of people who were second generation Mexican. With these difficulties created, Mexican–Americans had to work extra hard for fight for the rights that they have today. Chicana/o’s...
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...amount of time and money traveling. It is one of the most diverse cities in the nation; a place where one could go to little India and Chinatown in the same day because they are just a train ride away. Many would argue that Chicago is not a melting pot, however, all the cultural diversity can be identified on different levels. In places such as Greektown, Little Italy, Chinatown, and Little Village,. one can notice the distinct cultural changes and differences each these neighborhoods have. For example, Pilsen is a beautiful place because the Mexican art can be seen as soon as you enter the town. There is also a sense of community...
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...Essay We all see America as a big country where dreams can become reality, - The American Dream -, and in my opinion it is true. America has become a big destination for immigrants from Mexico, Spain, Africa etc. and in my opinion it is great because for a nation as big as America, it is important to have immigrants from different society to build an even greater society. The society as we know as America. Of course many people think it would be better to have one common culture, nationality or religion because then they might have the same habits, norms and the same sense in terms of policy, but I think they are wrong. I think they are wrong because in a country as big as America you will need many immigrants from different places for the influence of the culture and the people. The influence of immigrants is very good, because it is forming a strong society with a lot of different cultures, which means they get affected by each other in a positive way. The melting pot, also known as “the salad bowl”, is a synonym for a country build with a lot of different immigrants from different places, to build a strong society. Well we can definitely say that America is the melting pot, because of all the immigrants that have built such a strong and big country as America. It is not a surprise that there are many Immigrants in America, because America is a country where people, think that their dreams can become true and they want to secure their kids future. Most of the immigrants...
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...In Ernesto Chavez’s “Race, Manifest Destiny, and the U.S. war with Mexico” Chavez talks about manifest destiny and how it fueled territorial expansion. A main point Chavez makes is the differences between the constitutions of Mexico and the United States. A crucial difference is how the United States disregarded Indians as citizens, while Mexico guaranteed their rights as citizens. In 1810, the Mexican Republic established itself as “a multicultural entity” (page 3) which differed from the United states. In the United States Indians were not granted full citizenship and through the Indian removal act tribes did not have the power to take back their homeland. The wave of manifest destiny throughout the states left people with the ongoing pursuit...
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...about my heritage. I am glad I did because I learned many facts that challenged my own understanding of history. I want to share some of these facts with you today. On September 1968, Congress authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to proclaim National Hispanic Heritage Week, observed during the week that included Sept. 15 and Sept. 16. The observance was expanded in 1989 by Congress to a month long celebration (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15), America celebrates the culture and traditions of those who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico and the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Sept. 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on Sept. 16 (not the infamous May 5th (CINCO de Mayo)) and Sept. 18, respectively. First, let’s start by...
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...It was in middle school when I realize that the program I was in divided me from others. Progressing through elementary school, I knew who was going to be in my class and my teacher. I felt a sense of distinction in school when the kids from other classes did not hang out with me, distinction from how the subjects taught to me were different from those taught to them. The reason why my classes were different? I was in the dual immersion program. Being in the program is important to me because of how it molded me into the person I am today; a person who appreciates their two cultures. The dual immersion program exposed me to a culture that was already embezzled in my roots, for that I am thankful for it. My elementary school celebrated...
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...I’ve come to expect at this part of the exchange. Should I go into it again? Should I explain, the way I have to half a dozen others, that I am Guatemalan by birth but pura gringa by circumstance? Do I add the humble little laugh I usually attach to the end of my sentence to let him know that of course I see the irony in the situation? This will be the sixth time I’ve signed up to learn the language my parents speak to each other. It will be the sixth time I’ve bought workbooks and notebooks and textbooks listing 501 conjugated verbs in alphabetical order, with the hope that the subjunctive tense will fi nally take root in my mind. In class, I will sit across a table from the “native speaker,” who won’t question why the Irish-American lawyer, or the ad executive of Polish descent, has enrolled but, with a telling glance, will wonder what to make of me. Look, I’ll want to say (but never do). Forget the dark skin. Ignore the obsidian eyes. Pretend I’m a pink-cheeked, blue-eyed blonde whose name tag says Shannon. Because that is what a person who doesn’t innately know the difference between corre, corra, and corrí is supposed to look like, isn’t it? She certainly isn’t supposed to be earth-toned or be from my kind of background. If she happens to be named García or...
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...Thank you! Thank you Bismarck for the kind welcome. Thank you as well to Mr. Obama for that marvelous introduction. I’m here today to talk about immigration into our country. It’s a choice between people looking up to us or people wanting to hurt us. As a member of the Cabinet, I have had the immense honor of being the first representative of the American people for most immigrants that enter the country. As candidate for President, there is nothing more important to me than immigration and the people trying to escape from tyranny, oppression, poverty, and slavery. I have shown unwavering allegiance to those who come into our country by being their go to person at the start of their journey. With terrorists sneaking through and over...
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