Reflection paper (Ethnic and Race Relations)
Personal Background
I was born and brought up in a Kuwait. Personally, I would like to concur that my background influenced how I grew up. In any case, I was not used to cosmopolitanism. This is based on the knowledge that the American society has had historical positives or negatives in the subject of ethnicity, which is not consistent to my uniformed background. My ethnic background influenced how we lived; for instance, the nature of family social and religious practices. I’m Kuwaiti; unlike most of the other Asian students who were born and raised in the US, I just came to the country to study. The short time that I have been around, however, was enough to experience the life felt by other minority communities. I did not give it much thought though, moreover, I came to USA for my university education. I studied high school in Kuwait. The cultural difference is a challenge in the United States as minority communities continue to face political, social and economic inequalities.
Racial and Ethnic Identity
It is prudent to note that the Americans’ have tried to assimilate other races to the wider Christian American society. I remember while attending university the administrators consistently maintained that whites and other races were inherently unequal. In any case, for the school to meet federal and state requirements on the quality of education, the school had to improvise programs which could see African American and Asian Americans have special programs. One of the programs implemented was white Baccalaureate. This program was implemented to prepare non-native students joining the university on an assimilation program. There was also disheartening utterances by fellow students from the white majority. Moreover, it is difficult for minority students to express their thoughts since other students alienate minority students. Common names were Saddam or Ak-47 which not only disoriented my inner Kuwaiti soul, but made me dislike the white community. The subject of racism was sparsely spoken, and school administrators maintained that the institution was free from racist attributes. However, it was well-known that racism was very vibrant in the administration. For instance, selective processes such as to attendance to national school competitions were heavily infiltrated by racism. The administrator maintained that it was vital to equip teams with experienced competitors meaning white majorities. In some special cases, administrators maintained that communication was vital in most of these competitions; therefore, it was impossible to equip the teams with different linguistics. However, since I was just here for my university education, I ignored the thought of discrimination. To accomplish this, I concentrated more on education and social matters, and not the happenings in the global community
Analysis
The chief message that I leant signified that; Middle East immigrants have occupied an uncertain status in United States. Occupants are attacked by the much aggrandized policy against terrorism, which has periodically been used to install fear and some sense of prejudice. The authorities have failed to manage racist crises. For instance, there have been scientific efforts trying to conclude other races are not white, and in any case, that they are lesser humans (Tehranian 832). The primary cause factors of these belligerent situations are the terror situations; for instance, September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack. Racist philosophies; for example, Islam phobia is common in American societies. The goal is to promote prejudice against Muslim communities residing in America. This discrimination attempts to exclude Muslim minorities from economic and social public life in American soil. The rationale is oriented from the perception that Islam has peculiar values, which are not suitable in American culture (Kunst, Sam & Ulleberg 64). The message of fear cannot be ignored. Fear is primarily responsible to cause social anxiety amongst Muslim communities that I grew up in. However, this would not deter them from associating with other races. I would like to work in a cosmopolitan environment which is not against any minor community. It is prudent to note that the messages expressed here; for instance, fear and belligerence were not properly engineered. These messages were based on fallacy and propaganda. For instance, prejudiced selections in our school were not sufficient enough to respond to demands of the school. In any case, the school lost or won as normally, and in any event, excluding other races did not make significant quality in how business was conducted. I have to concur with you that growing up in a cosmopolitan area has taught me several social principles. I have managed to learn from diverse cultures, and how each culture influenced the decision that people make socially or economically. For example, am more attracted to my religion; Muslim, because I strongly believe it has nothing to do with my race. In any case, I never choose to become a Kuwaiti, but I have a choice of religion.
In conclusion, cultural difference is a challenge in the United States as minority communities continue to face political, social and economic inequalities. As a Kuwaiti student, adapting to the social surroundings has been an obstacle one has to face on a daily basis. Moreover, it is difficult for minority students to express their thoughts since other students alienate minority students. Because of this, one feels intimidated and finds the situation uncomfortable daily. One tries to adapt to this new environment and hopefully will be able to feel comfortable with time.
Work Cited
Tehranian, John. “Performing Whiteness: Naturalization Litigation and the Construction of
RacialIdentity in America,” The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 109, No. 4. January 4th, 2000,
pp.817–848.
Kunst, Jonas., Sam, David., & Ulleberg, Pal “Perceived Islamophobia: Scale development and
Validation”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Advance online publication (2012)
Web 11 November 2012
< http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0147176712001204>
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