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LITR 4332 American Minority Literature Model Assignments Research Project Submissions 2013 research post 2 |
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Amy Fuqua
25 April 2013
The
Trials of Assimilation
It is an
essential part of human nature to be self-centered. One part of that essential
selfishness is the understandable desire to belong. This selfishness in the
reasonable desire to belong in society as a whole might not be an absolutely
negative trait but neither is it a completely positive trait either. To fit into
and belong in the society surrounding one’s self one must compromise in some
way. Compromising one’s self in major and minor ways really does seem to be the
only way to fit into the dominant culture. The dominant feature of American
culture seems to be the integration and subjugation of others cultures into its
own. The biggest and most well-known example of this is the blacks who were
forcibly brought to this country as slaves. Have the members of the black
communities successfully assimilated into the dominant white culture since their
forced introduction to it?
“Africans
and African Americans share an ancient and vital history disrupted by the forces
of social change manifest in the institution of slavery as exercised in the West
and colonialism imposed on the African Continent” (Young). No one who has any
knowledge of American history can deny that blacks were first introduced to the
American continents as slaves; people stolen from their own homes and forced
into involuntary bondage of the worst kind. Whites often treated their own pets
and material possessions with more care and consideration than their black
slaves. In the culturally diverse world of today blacks do have better rights
and receive better treatment. That does not mean that they have not had to
compromise themselves and had to continue to strive hard to have a proper place
of acceptance within society. “There is, for instance, a strong belief among the
great majority of African Americans of all classes that slavery and Jim Crow
continue to significantly limit opportunities for blacks, that racism and racial
discrimination should be vigorously resisted at every turn in one's personal
life, and that a top priority of government and private institutions alike
should be to eradicate racial evils from the American landscape root and branch”
(Brooks). It would be lovely if racism ceased to exist but the reality is that
people are still a long way away from eradicating it seeing as, “The
centuries-long pattern of domination was so overbearing in the American society
that remained mostly intact even after the emancipation” (Roshnavand). Racism is
generated by everyone because everyone is afflicted with ethnocentrism in some
degree. That degree of affliction depends on the circumstances of one’s life and
the experiences one lives through. Habits are very hard to break. The more
long-standing the habit the harder it is to break.
The grass
is always greener on the other side is not always or often true. Sometimes the
grass on the other side is painted green for the benefit of those gazing upon
it. That does not stop people from thinking like Eshun in
Black Gold of the Sun with his
thoughts that, “Despite the hardship of his journey, [he] hopes that he might be
able to come to some kind of understanding of his black self when placed in the
midst of other African bodies: that he would no longer feel like an exotic; that
his feelings of being an outsider in the West and his search for a definable
identity would come to an end when he could see similarities between himself and
the people of Ghana” (Sivanarayanan). Poor Eshun’s hopes were not to be
fulfilled. Sometimes looking through the eyes of others does help with achieving
clarity. “Given that travelers carry with them the values and norms of their own
culture and assess foreign cultures in light of these values and beliefs, their
perceptions contribute significantly to the ways in which societies evaluate and
relate to each other” (Prescott). Seeing another culture far different from
one’s own might be one step closer in understanding and accepting the culture
one lives surrounded by. The blacks forced into slavery had to adapt to the
culture they were thrust within or die drowning in it. Change is inevitable. One
just has to go with the flow and keep an open mind.
Blacks
are assimilated into society in so far as they are a reluctantly accepted part
of it. Blacks have been through a lot and they fought hard to get to the
position they are in today. No doubt they will continue to fight hard in the
future and they are far from the only ones who will do so. These oppressed
people have come a long way from their early days as slaves but there is still a
long way to go until they are fully integrated into society. White people very
much loathe to part from any amount of their power or to give up any thought of
superiority. Power and money make the world go round. Everyone has a long way to
go until everyone is a part of a fully integrated society. Maybe one day the
world will be a completely unified global society unhindered by the racial
discrimination, among other problems, that plagued the past.
Works Cited
Brooks, Roy L. "Cultural
Diversity: It's All About The Mainstream." Monist 95.1 (2012): 17-32. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
Prescott, Laurence E.1.
"Journeying Through Jim Crow." Latin American Research Review 42.1 (2007): 3-28.
Humanities Source. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
Roshnavand, Farshid
Nowrouzi1, and Rajabali Askarzadeh2 Torghabeh. "African Americans And
Reconceptualization Of Identity: Black Participation In World War I And The Rise
Of The New Negro Consciousness." Khazar Journal Of Humanities & Social
Sciences 16.1 (2013): 37-47. Humanities Source. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
Sivanarayanan, Anushiya.
"An “Other” Destiny: Mimesis, Parody, And Assimilation." Papers On Language &
Literature 44.4 (2008): 391-415. Humanities Source. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
Young, Carlene1,2,3.
"Assimilation And Social Change Dynamics In African And African American
Communities." Western Journal Of Black Studies 27.3 (2003): 164-175. Humanities
Source. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.
