Synthesis on Race and Ethnicit
Synthesis on Race and EthnicitBy: Justin Frieberg
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With the commencement of the millennium one might think that what is known as the melting pot of the world would interact more smoothly than what is portrayed in the media. We have long lived in a society that is segregated, not because it has gone unopposed, but because no one wants to take on the responsibility of breaking the "Berlin Wall" of segregation. We have, however, come a long way from the kind of segregation that was imparted in our country's fledgling stages, slavery being the number one offense of segregation. A quarter-century ago, race was part of everyday public discourse; today it haunts us quietly, though on occasion - the Rodney King beating or the Simpson trial or Eric McGinnis's death - it erupts with jarring urgency. At these moments of crisis, during these squalls, we flail about, trying to find moral ballast. By then it is usually too late. The lines are drawn. Accusations are hurled across the river like cannon fire. And the cease-fires, when they occur, are just that, cease-fires, temporary and fragile. Even the best of people have already chosen sides (Kotlowitz, 414) To have any race or sect serve another because they believe they are higher and mightier than the other is preposterous. By our own nature we, as a society, strive to dominate others and become the "King of the Hill". This is our major downfall, by doing this we injure our society and the bond that holds this country together. Why does this occur you might ask? That is a question to be answered only by anthropologists and sociologists; for students do not have the time or inclination to sort through behaviorisms and psychological mumbo jumbo. Many of our youth were taught to stay within their own ethnic groups. This mentality is what gave rise to the Klu Klux Klan, the Chinese prisoner camps of World War II, and the ethnically segregated neighborhoods of today. Some are taught to hate other ethnic groups, some have preconceived notions of how other cultures act, and still others have had bad run-ins with other ethnic groups and judge them all from the one incident. As William Booth, a Washington Post staff writer, said in his essay "One Nation, Indivisible: Is It History,", "Houses of worship remain, as the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. described it three decades ago, among the most segregated institutions in America, not just by race but also by ethnicity." Think how difficult it is to measure the ratio of cultures and ethnic backgrounds to how we integrate with each other. Whites account for seventy-four percent of the population, Blacks twelve percent, Latino ten percent, and Asians three percent (Booth, 395). It is easy to see how Whites could be perceived as the oppressors because of the shear evidence of the numbers, showing Whites as the majority. Morrow lends a good point when he says "this might be because of the...
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