Multiculturalism Has Many Definitions - Essay Example

Multiculturalism Multiculturalism has many definitions and explanations. The most agreed upondefinition is the racial, ethnic, religious or cultural diversity within the peripheries of a neighborhood, town, city or a country (Modood, 2007). The subject of multiculturalism has came under much discussion since the dawn of the twentieth century and gained much importance during the 1950s and 1960s as immigrants stormed Europe and North American continent. With the advent of these immigrants coming from all nooks and crannies of the world, the indigenous people faced a direct threat to their culture and lifestyle. That was the same time when Martin Luther King was reigning supreme in the United States and half of his crowds were of white men and women. On the other hand, blacks had gained enough confidence and self-respect that they were up for any challenges and their fight for rights was coming to its fruitful ending. Dr. King was of the opinion that the US government will not divert its resources towards the welfare of Americans, as it needs to assert its role as a superpower. (Hooks, pp. 43-46) The cold war was in full bloom in that era, billions of dollars were spent daily, and the human toll of hundreds of young American soldiers was rising day by day. That was the time when Dr. King raised the slogan of "A Revolution of Values" as he sensed that the time was ripe for a paradigm shift in the racial issues that ultimately paved the way for multiculturalism. Bell Hooks was a student during the days of civil liberation movement and was an avid supporter of Martin Luther King. (Armstrong, pp. 16-20) The observations she has made in her book about the changing faces of race and ethnicity speaks volumes about her grasp of the subject. (Hooks, pp. 20-27) After studying for years in a black school, she was sent to a white school as part of the integration campaign. The centuries of segregation between whites and the blacks was a major hindrance in the integration process. While the whites felt dejected at the notion of sharing their lifestyle with the blacks who were their slaves just a few decades back. Blacks on the other hand were both afraid and proud. They were afraid of the backlash from the whites and were proud that they have finally registered themselves as the equal citizens of United States. The dream of racial desegregation in schools was not materialized in a day. Joseph Watras has written in his book on racial desegregation in schools that after the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision of the US Supreme Court, many states, especially the southern ones, raised a constitutional storm out of it. (Watras, pp.8-10) They were not ready to let the black students enter the white schools and were ready for a long legal battle. The North America Convention for Colored People (NACCP) won a string of such legal battles thus enabling a complete desegregation of schools all across the United States. Mark Nathan Cohen (Culture of Intolerance, 1998) thinks that the culture of intolerance and racism in the United States is because of the fear. This fear has lead to conflicting theories and myths that colored people are less talented than the white population. They have fabricated stories about their natural and biological supremacy over the colored ones thus enabling them to rule the world. This so called white supremacist attitude is responsible for grave violations of human rights. As it was widely believed that blacks were of inferior race and are a burden for the country, thus they were treated in a very harsh manner. Even the court decisions reflected color prejudices. The biases died their natural death when scientific researches proved that race is an absurd notion and has nothing to do with the intellect and other abilities of a person. However, some experts refused to vacate their seat for a white man and fuelled the civil liberties movement. Dr. King, who was a great humanist, managed to calm his supporters otherwise there was a threat of civil war within the United States. (Hook, pp. 59-60) He knew that multiculturalism is the only solution to the racial issues in America. To spread multiculturalism, however, was not an easy job, he opined. Multiculturalism in a society can only be tolerate and promoted if there is a breeding ground for it. Acceptance of religious or ethnic minorities and granting them full legal and constitutional protection with equal opportunities is the basic characteristic of a multicultural society. The civil rights movement addressed these issues in detail. Its greatest achievement was to create a sense of guilt among the academia and moderate classes about their atrocities on the blacks. Even the term Black or Nigger was termed as pejorative and offensive during that period only because of the efforts of these liberal whites. This alliance was necessary as it created awareness among the whites and more and more people shed their biases and prejudices. Many white women married African Americans and some African American women married white men. The ratio of white men marrying black men was much higher because white women were least bothered in the issue of race and color as compared to white men. The general perception of black people also saw a positive change during the time. By mid 1950s majority of American urbanites had changed their attitudes about African Americans. (Watras, pp. 29-34) As mentioned above, white women lead the cause of multiculturalism and they defied the social norms quite openly. (Hooks, pp. 19-20) A number of American leaders are the outcomes of this openness of pure white women who married pure African men who were not even American citizens. This was made possible only because of the efforts of Dr. King and his disciples who clarified many misconceptions about race and color. The tragic assassination of Dr. King was a major blow to racial neutralization in America but he had established the movement on a sound footing. Discriminatory laws and practices are now outdated. African Americans are now present in every sector and are contributing a great deal towards the progress of the United States. Still there are some racial undercurrents, which pose a threat to multiculturalism in America. On one hand, the United States has some groups like Ku Klux Klan and on the other hand, Muslim nations are damaging the efforts to bring the races together. (Ching, pp. 40-44) African Americans are still believed to be gangsters and criminals by some whites though a majority has changed their mindsets. These people cite the number of black inmates in prisons as the proof of African Americans involvement in crime but forget to mention the services of millions of others. Many African Americans still live in separate neighborhoods and have higher poverty rates than the national average. These factors are a major bottleneck in creating a multicultural and more importantly balanced multicultural society in America. There is a general perception (Ingrid, pp. 36-40) that racially integrated neighborhoods are not a very rare sight in America and there is more racial integration in cities. She dismisses the conventional wisdom on racially segregated neighborhoods and opines that races are more integrated now, at least when it comes to housing. This indeed is helping the multiculturalism phenomenon to grow in the United States. Racism will prevail in America and thus, we cannot expect a balanced multiculturalism in our country (Powell, pp. 38-42). The influx of Latinos and Asians immigrants has added to a more multicultural society in the United States but it has also increased the racial tensions. African Americans are now wary of these immigrants as well because these immigrants are carving a big niche for themselves in the American society. The inherent streak of hard work present in the immigrant community is helping them in improving their economic conditions. These immigrant communities complain of facing immense discrimination from both the whites and African Americans. They think this discrimination stems from jealousy and a sense of insecurity that the immigrants will usurp the resources of the natives. African Americans are feeling the most alienated group because of the immigrants. Efforts of racial integration, as discussed above, are not completely successful and this has resulted in a desperate behavior among the African Americans (Yancey, pp. 49-54). This sense of alienation and stigmatization is a major reason for increasing crime rates among the African American youth. The best way of tackling racial issues in America is to involve all the stakeholders. The government needs to allocate more funds for the economically challenged communities especially African Americans as they are really in an awkward situation. Similarly, a thorough integration of the immigrants into American society is necessary to promote multiculturalism. Another major tool of reducing the adverse effects of multiculturalism is educational platform that may facilitate in the elimination process. According to a study, it was observed that education curricula of education system has been created, in order to reduce the discussed effects of multiculturalism and provide education to individuals without categorizing them in different strata of the society based on creed, color, and race. However, some experts (Hooks, pp. 67-69) have argued that faculty and educators implementing and teaching such curricula have stratified the role of education system since decades. Despite of same curricula and principles for every individual in American society, it is observed that individuals from African-American background or black communities are often treated as dropouts and failures in the education system, which is one of its adverse characteristics, and has increased the unpleasantness in the society. Moreover, it is noted that issues like racism are not considered as issues in the system anymore due to their absence on front level; however, studies have indicated that racism has always been a major component of education system in a symbolic and silent manner, which has resulted in reduction of effectiveness of efficient features of the system. (Provenzo, pp. 30-32) In addition, the educational platform was established to integrate the black and white community together; however, it has ended in a vice versa outcome. (Hooks, pp. 78-79) A number of evidences have shown that our society allows individuals from affected communities like black community, Africa-American community, etc to acquire the elite group of the society through different opportunities. However, percentage of such individuals in our society is not more than twenty-three percent according to a study. In this regard, it would be erroneous to say that racism and multiculturalism is eliminated from the system. On the other hand, it has become a habitual characteristic of the system, which impedes its other effective features to act in an equalized manner. Conclusively, the paper has discussed some of the significant aspects of multiculturalism, and specifically, racism. It is essential that further research should be carried out in the subject and racism should be discussed on an open platform, which will facilitate in bringing the core issues in the front. Efforts that were started in 1960s did not seem to be continuous until today, and progress has not been observed in the region. In addition, situation has become more adverse and deteriorated. For instance, a number of issues are only being confronted by black these days, such as racial discrimination, drugs, scarcity of resources, etc. Moreover, unity has been lacked unfavorably and adversely in the region so far. In the result, the black community has been confronting a number of issues are being confronted by the black community, which have affected them physically, as well as, emotionally. Consequently, the black community has progressed very slowly, even to the extent of no progress in the past decades due to a number of factors, such as racial discrimination, and lack of unison among the black community, etc. In the beginning of 1960s, an abrupt change was observed in the blacks that were encouraged and supported by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This change resulted in the beginning of a war that gave them a vision for their social rights in the region. It was observed during these years that the same handling that were observed in the region of American people, even hundred years were not completed after their freedom from the slavery. Similarly, selection of Barack Obama as a new US President, as well as, the first Black US President in the year 2008 might play a vital and crucial role in reducing the existence of different aspects of multiculturalism, as well as, providing the same vision related to social and cultural rights, as earlier discussed in the paper. It is hoped that the paper will be beneficial for students, teachers, and professionals in better understanding of the topic. Works Cited Bell Hooks. Killing Rage. Holt and Company, 1996. Ellen Ingrid. Sharing America’s Neighborhoods. Harvard University Press, 2000. Eugene F. Provenzo. Critical Issues in Education. SAGE Publications, 2006. George A. Yancey. Who is White? Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2003. Jacqueline Ching. The Assassination of Martin Luther King. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2002. Joseph Watras. Politics, Race, and Schools. Taylor & Francis, 1997. Julie Armstrong. Teaching the American Civil Rights Movement. Routledge, 2002. Mark Nathan Cohen. Culture of Intolerance. Yale University Press, 1998. Tariq Modood. Multiculturalism. Polity, 2007. Thomas Powell. The Persistence of Racism in America. University Press of America, 1992. Read More