African american and Immigrant - Essay Example

opinion this subordination primarily involves Black Americans and is used as some form of initiation for an immigrant to be admitted and assimilated into the United States. This paper explores the significance of Ahmad’s perspective on immigration and race issues in America to understanding Ralph Ellison’s story, the Battle Royal and specifically identify what the young African Americans experience today in this context. In Ahmad’s discussion of Morrison’s model of immigrant assimilation, he suggested that Blacks are no longer the sole subjects of the subordination framework in the immigration and assimilation tradition in the US as claimed by Morrison.

He attributed this development primarily to the dramatic change in demographic shift, which transforms a largely European-composed American society into one that is predominantly Latino and Asian. According to Ahmad, “immigrants today are made American not only when they learn to subordinate African Americans, but when they are racialized as subordinates as well.” (102) In Battle Royal, Ralph Ellison illustrated through the Invisible Man what was the ideal African-American individual - one who knows his place, docile and follows the standards that was set for him by the white community.

He is equal with the others when we talk of the common good but excluded like the finger of the hand in everything social.1 After the black protagonist’s speech near the end of the story, the white school superintendent exulted on his speech with its impassioned affirmation to the racial stereotype with these words: Gentlemen, you see that I did not overpraise this boy. He makes a good speech and some day he’ll lead his people in the proper paths. And I don’t have to tell you that that is important in these days and times.

This is a good, smart boy, and so to encourage him in the right direction, in the name of education I wish to present him a prize…” (281) The young Negro was overjoyed with the approval