The Benefits of a Multicultural America free essay sample

In America, people are born and raised to believe that this country was founded on human rights such as life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. In reality these rights were not always accessible for minorities in United States. Minorities in America have had to overcome obstacles including being treated as second class citizens. Multiculturalism has existed throughout the history of America. People have migrated for thousands of years moving into different habitats and spreading their influences over one another. David Burgos a writer for adage, a website that specialize in advertising states, â€Å"I bet most of you thought about Blacks or African Americans and Hispanics. Probably some of you mentioned Asians too, and maybe a few even associated it with non-race- or ethnicity-based minority segments such as Muslims. Indeed, if you are like most of the U. S. population, it is very likely that your response to my question did not include Whites at all. We will write a custom essay sample on The Benefits of a Multicultural America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Why? Because we as a society tend to downplay the role of Whites when the conversation centers on race-related topics† (Burgos). The mixing of different cultures has resulted in many different outcomes depending on their situation. The belief that several different cultures can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single country, this is the idea we hope to achieve. Multiculturalism is a belief that encourages the settlement of communities that contains different aspects of cultural behaviors and thinking. Throughout the history of the United States, the concept of different cultures interacting with each other has affected what has become modern America. In America, the flow of continuous mass immigration has greatly contributed to the economy, political atmosphere, and the demographics of the country. The myth of the American dream was created in the 19th century which people spread rumors across the world about a country that was culturally diverse with a melting Pot of tradition. The complex situations in modern American are diverse and demand different cultures working together to make this country better. Native Americans were the first known humans to inhabit North America. Hundreds of tribes and civilizations existed and vanished due to famine, war, and other unknown causes. Before the Europeans arrived, Native Americans were naturalists and viewed the world as a gift from their gods. The colonists viewed the Natives land as an opportunity for them to continue colonel expand. Ninian R, Stein, a professor for brown university writes, â€Å"For the early European colonists who settled in Southern New England, subsistence, or more explicitly agriculture, was the culturally defined way of determining both land ownership and cultural identity. These settlers and subsequent generations turned their gaze to Native American peoples in efforts to categorize Native subsistence creating images that persist in the historical literature. Images of Native American subsistence remain central to how we today understand, reconstruct and attempt to represent Pre-Contact landscapes in Southern New England. † Although both groups had different views of life, they still managed to find a way to communicate and encourage trade. This is the start to a multicultural idea in America and has spread out throughout decades. An influx of people with even greater diversities in culture followed the first Europeans including Irish and Chinese people. America became stronger due to diverse abilities that people from all over the world possessed. Multiculturalism is not just diversity in a country, because almost every country in this world has a curtain aspect in which can be argued is indeed diversified. Examples of this might include the Christians in Syria which are indeed minority in a Muslim country. Although this is diversity in a religion sense, it does not qualify as a different cultural because of the close interrogation within the two sub groups. The Christians and Muslims have lived together for hundreds of years, the only thing that separate the two groups from being entirely similar in life is religion. In order for groups to be classified as multicultural they have to be culturally different. One group of people that was completely different from Native Americans and Europeans are Africans. Africans are unique because they are the only group of individuals that came to the land of the free by force. The African slave trade brought millions of Africans to America for slave labor. African traditions and customs have influenced almost everything in America. Music, pop cultural, books all have curtain aspects that can be traced back to Africa. The descendants of Africans have also influenced the country from the federal level by leading the civil rights movement and other historical situations that help make this country fair and equal for everyone. An article in the morning call, does a great job describing the impact that Africans have had on modern America, â€Å"The landslide election of a black president is a testament to the American people and an affirmation of one of the most important principles in the Declaration of Independence: All men are created equal(Cole). African Americans have gone through a tremendous shift in life that has benefited everyone in the country. Another group of people that had an impact in the multicultural growth of the United States is the Irish. The Irish were a people from Ireland who migrated to America in hopes of seeking a new and better life. Irish people wanted jobs and money in order to survive the potato famine that divested the population of Ireland Glen, Elsasser, a writer for the Chicago tribune states, At the time of the famine, Irelands population was approximately 9 million, whose district encompasses the old waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point, where the so-called coffin ships from Ireland docked with cargoes of dead and diseased victims of the Great Hunger. Approximately 1 million perished and almost 2 million emigrated. You are talking about a nation that lost a third of its population† (Elsasser). This quote does a great job explaining the challenges Irish faced coming to America. The transcontinental railroad was a great opportunity for people in the Irish communities to find work. The majority of workers on the railroad were Irish and Chinese workers. The Irish were quick learners who integrated quickly into American culture redefining as a whole. There have been presidents, novelists, and countless other important people in American that can trace their ancestry to Ireland. Most people in America understand and embrace the contributions that the Irish people have had on the multicultural growth of America.