Nowadays, Puerto Ricans are having the same problems as the African Americans did before with the North Americans in terms of the use of English. Something similar is happening to Puerto Rican society and their education towards English. North American people think we do not know how to speak it because we are stupid and not clever. We can speak it, not like them, but we can communicate with them. The main reason for a language is to communicate.
What did you call me? Many Latin American and Mexican people get titles, like Hispanic, Latino/Latina, and Chicano/Chicana. Some of these terms are considered to be derogatory and offensive to the Latin Americans and the others (referring to ones mentioned in the beginning), and they would prefer to be called something else. They don’t like these names for many reasons; one is because many of these terms have a history that has absolutely nothing to do with Latin Americans, and Mexicans, and they find it inappropriate for people to call them those names. I agree with them, because each ethnic group has names they prefer to be called by and other names that they do not tolerate.
Due to this fact, I was deprived of the stereotype about Indians which was cultivated in the United States from a generation to generation. Stereotyping is a common practice in today’s society. What happens when you use stereotypes is you draw on preconceived notions about certain racial or ethnic groups to define a person or group of people. These preconceived views may not be entirely true. Many races and ethnic groups are often hurt by these stereotypes.
The malicious acts committed by Malcolm X reflect the idea that people ignore truth to conform to society. Known for having strong opinions, Malcolm X seems to be an unlikely victim of blind conformity. However, as shown in his essay, “My First Conk”, Malcolm X was victimized by this need to conform. Changing to look or behave like another because it is more desired by the public is due to a disregarding of self-claimed morals and values, an over emphasis of the media and outside opinions, and an insecurity. In “My First Conk”, Malcolm X assured that black people were being brainwashed to believe that they actually were inferior to white people, thus they conked their hair; which was a hair straightener gel made from lye popular among African-American men from the 1920s to the 1960s.
Running Head: UNMASKING THE MYSTERY Gender Identity Disorder: Unmasking the Mystery Angela Bankhead University of Houston Abstract People who suffer from Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders (GIS) deal with adversities. Rights and values to employment, job opportunities and health care benefits are not easily accessible due to discrimination and prejudice. Here this paper will examine the psychological and sociological elements of Gender Identity disorder and how the interrelation among each other within the American culture. Gender Identity Disorder: Unmasking the Mystery America values state equality, liberty and justice for all people. For many cultural and minority groups, they do not enjoy these luxuries.
The difficulty here is that for Shen “’I’ had often been identified with another ‘bad’ word, ‘individualism,’ which has become a synonym for selfishness in China.” And that “individualism’ have had negative connotations in my [Shen] mind.” These barriers that were set up by the Chinese ideology, made it hard for Shen to be his true self. While writing, the challenge for Shen was to abandon his Chinese ideologies and adopt an English identity to properly express himself. Mellix on the other hand, is able to be herself and write about the topic on mind. Though she also has to shut out a part of herself, the Black English, it is not like Shen’s situation where he has to change ideologies whenever writes, you get the feel that Shen knows that English
Her journey starts with her childhood and progresses through learning her mother’s English, to English in school and concludes with her becoming a writer. Tan grew up the child of Chinese immigrants. Her mother spoke, what Tan refers to as, “broken” English. As a child, she found herself ashamed of the way her mother spoke. This “broken” English limited even Tan’s own perception of her mother; she believed her mother’s imperfect English meant that her mother’s ideas and thoughts must be imperfect as well.
The major problem concerning this issue is that many people differ in the real meaning of the concept and how they view their personal involvement. Brook argues that “we do not really care about diversity all that much in America, even though we talk about it a great deal” (306). However, they are the general, erroneous interpretations of diversity that are really creating this wrong image of indifference. According to Kira Hudson Banks in her research entitled “A Qualitative Investigation of Students’ Perceptions of Diversity,” many people defined diversity as race and do not include other types of diversity (153). The real definition of diversity includes different elements of the identity and culture of each person.
Mother Tongue In “Mother Tongue”, Amy Tan writes about discrimination through “broken English” compared to Standard English and how people who speak “broken English” are usually taken advantage of. In Tans essay she quotes her mother’s speech to demonstrate her mother’s “broken English”. The quoted parts were filled with grammatical mistakes and the text was quite confusing. Yet, according to Tan “You should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belittles how much she actually understands”. This reminds me of my childhood, because growing up I would have to constantly translate for my mother.
The United States is a powerful culture that seems to have an issue finding motivation to learn about cultures of less dominance. Although America is supposed to be a “melting pot” of cultures, the “American” culture is dominant and other cultures in our own country seem to be oppressed in comparison. In this way, Americans do not have the motivation to communicate with other cultures instilled in them as do other cultures that must learn the English language and American culture to be successful. Therefore, having the motivation to learn how to engage in successful intercultural