Matt Richards

Immigrants and Minorities are not the same group:  The differences and similarities of these culture groups

            For more than five hundred years people have been coming to America to find a new life.  Most of these groups came by choice with the hope that they would find the America that would give them the opportunity to leave their old life behind and begin something great in their new homeland.  Those groups of people are known today as Immigrants.  These American Immigrants journey to America every year in search of what the dominant culture calls the “American Dream.”  The dream is to assimilate or adopt the way of life of the dominant culture such as the language and family values (Objective 1d).  When I signed up for this course, I was taking Colonial-Post Colonial Literature.  The Immigrant Lit class seemed like the next step or piece in my search for a better understanding of American Culture.  I soon realized that the purpose of the Multicultural Immigrant Literature course was to have students take a more in depth look into the culture of Immigrant and Minority groups by reading a variety of narratives by Immigrant and Minority writers. 

You may ask, what does this have to do with American culture?  The American culture is a variety or “melting pot” of many different cultures, which means that even the dominant culture is infused with elements from the cultures of many different types of immigrants, minority groups, even those who could be seen as having characteristics of both.  In order to better understand American culture, it is necessary to look at the different types of culture groups.  I feel it is only natural that this discovery is attempted by reading the stories of many culture groups whether they are immigrants, minorities or both.  The course looks to me like a good start in the process of changing the way Americans look at immigrants and minority groups.  I was appalled to discover just how truly ignorant the dominant culture is.  I, like many of my fellow Americans, thought that the words immigrant and minority were interchangeable and that these culture groups were basically the same.  I learned very quickly that this notion was not entirely right.  Immigrants and minorities are very different, but do share some common ground because of the culture group that has characteristics of both.  In this essay, I’m going to show the differences and similarities between Immigrant and Minority groups.  Also I will show that there are differences and similarities in each group as well.

The Immigrant group is the culture group that is most similar to the dominant culture.  The reason that Immigrants are similar to the main stream culture is that most of us have ancestors that came over to America from European countries.  In other words, most of the dominant culture can relate to the Immigrant group in a way that we can not relate to the Minority group.  This is often a good thing, but the dominant culture doesn’t seem to know what defines an Immigrant.  Most people tend to believe that immigrating to the United States is a very simple process and that all immigrant stories are the same.  Both ideas are completely untrue.  I have selected three stories from the course so far that show just how different the stories of Immigrants can be.

The narrative “The English Lesson” by Nicholasa Mohr is a good example of the immigrant story in which the characters are able to go down a path towards assimilation and the “American Dream.”  All of the people in the class are immigrants who have decided to learn the English language for a variety of reasons such as to get better jobs, to become citizens, and to simply have a better life.  For example, Joseph Fong says, “I taking course in Basic English to speak good and improve my position better in this country.  Also to be eligible to become American citizen” (IA 24).  Mr. Fong seems to be finding his version of the American dream and it looks as if he will be able to easily assimilate to American Culture.  Most of the people in the class share Mr. Fong’s reality, but there is one person who has a slightly different viewpoint. 

Diego Torres is a New World Immigrant from the Dominican Republic and has also come to America for a better life, but he doesn’t feel he was given much of a choice.  He says, “I no give up my country Santo Domingo, for nothing, nothing in the whole world.  OK, man?  I come here, pero I cannot help.  I got no work at home.  There, is political.  The United States control most of the industry which is sugar and tourismo.  Y-you have to know somebody.  I tell you, is political to get a job, man!  You don’t know nobody and you no work, eh?  So I come here from necessity, pero this no my country” (IA 25).  Clearly Diego represents the overlap in the immigrant culture because he didn’t choose to come to America.  His hostile resistance to assimilation identifies him more with the minority group than the immigrant one. 

Minority groups such as Native Americans and African Americans didn’t choose to come to America.  The Native Americans were invaded by immigrants from Europe that forced them to assimilate and adopt the culture values that they were bringing over from their different homelands.  The African Americans were captured and brought over to America as slaves.  Diego is a mixture of both groups because he did come willingly to America for the “American Dream”, but he feels that he didn’t have a choice and really doesn’t want to live in America.  This is most evident when he says proudly that he doesn’t want to become an American citizen. 

Another type of immigrant story is one where the person comes to America in search of opportunity, but has to work very hard for it.  For example, the story “Soap and Water” by Anzia Yezierska shows how a young Russian girl worked her way to receiving a college degree and the struggles along the way to her new life.  The girl is constantly in conflict with the Dean of her college.  Dean Whiteside is a product of the dominant culture and expects her to conform or assimilate to the norm.  Whiteside makes it so difficult for her that she almost doesn’t graduate.  The reason that Whiteside gives for wanting to hold the diploma is that the girl is not clean and well-groomed like the dominant society says a teacher should be.  Whiteside insults her by saying, “Soap and water are cheap.  Anyone can be clean” (Yezierska handout 105). 

This is a good example of how the dominant culture is ignorant when it comes to the struggles of the immigrant.  Miss Whiteside knows nothing about the girl, but is quick to dash her hopes and dreams simply because she doesn’t fit the mold of the assimilated immigrant that Whiteside feels she should fit.  The reader is able to see how hard the girl works to get this diploma.  She says, “While they condemned me as unfit to be a teacher, because of my appearance, I was slaving to keep them clean.  I was slaving in a laundry from five to eight in the morning, before going to college, and from six to eleven at night, after coming home from college.  Eight hours of work a day, outside my studies.  Where was the time and the strength for the “little niceties of the well-groomed lady”? (Soap and Water handout 106). 

This young girl was working herself to the bone to achieve the “American Dream”, but the dominant culture still ended up denying her the place in society that she wanted.  The girl doesn’t give up though and she does get her degree even though she can’t find the job that she truly wants.  At the end of the story she finds a person she can relate and talk to about her struggle.  She finally seems to have found her place and will not be giving up on her teaching dream. 

Another type of immigrant narrative that stood out was the story “America is in the Heart” by Carlos Bulosan.  Carlos’ experience with the “American Dream” is more like a nightmare because he doesn’t have a chance for a better life like most immigrants do.  He and his friends are exploited by the landlord when they can not pay the rent.  I was shocked to see that instead of throwing them out, the landlord sells them to this guy Jake who basically treats them like slaves.  Carlos and his friends did all kinds of dangerous work on the boat and their living conditions are just as bad.  He starts to become angry and resists being assimilated to a dominant culture that exploits him.  This resistance is more often a trait of the minority group and in many ways Carlos identifies with both groups.  He is an immigrant but he doesn’t find a better life in America.  At the end, he says, “Please God, don’t change me in America!” (America is in the Heart handout 73). 

Minorities have a different culture from Immigrants mostly because they didn’t choose to assimilate; they were forced to conform to the ideals of the dominant culture.  The poem “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government” by the poet Chrystos is an example of how the dominant culture can and often does oppress the minority group.  In the poem, Native Americans are angry at the way the dominant culture has moved in and forced them from their lands and way of life.  The Native Americans are a minority group because they were already here when the European Immigrants started settling America.  They do not want to adopt the ways of the white man.  The entire poem criticizes what it is to be part of the dominant culture.  The last lines say, “Go so far away we wont remember you ever came here  Take these words back with you” (Chrystos handout).   It is clear from the poem that this group hates the centuries of oppression and does not see America as the land of opportunity.  They do not know the “American Dream” that immigrants know.  All they know is the “American Nightmare” (Objective 3). 

Mexican Americans are also considered minority groups, but they could have characteristics of both cultures.  For example, the narrative “Hunger of Memory” by Richard Rodriguez is a story about a boy who is isolated from his community and family because he chose to learn English.  His family wanted him to learn English, but as soon as he did; they acted like they were ashamed of him.  His relatives called him “Pocho” which means “colorless” or “bland” (Hunger of Memory handout 230).  Rodriguez is a minority, but his assimilation to the dominant culture is something that usually only immigrants tend to do.  I don’t really know which group he would fit in with.  I think in this case Rodriguez is in the both group because he can not completely identify with either.

It really surprised me how much alike Immigrants and Minorities actually are.  I’m now going to show a few narratives that the people have elements of both groups in them.  The story “No Name in the Street” by James Baldwin is an excellent example of an African minority who ends up assimilating to the point that he doesn’t fit in with his own group anymore.  Baldwin’s assimilation and break from typical minority culture is evident in the fact that he worked in Hollywood.  Hollywood has been a symbol of the dominant culture since the late 1930s.  The fact that he works in a mainstream society shows just how much he has drifted from his minority cultural roots.  At the same time, however, Baldwin was very active in the Civil Rights movement with leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.  Baldwin feels that he can’t be apart of either group anymore.   This story reminded me of “Hunger of Memory” because both Baldwin and Rodriguez didn’t know where they belonged.  This is often a characteristic of the in-between group.

There are some cultures that very clearly identify with both Immigrants and Minorities.  The most evident of these group is the Afro-Caribbean group whose people look like a minority group because of the “Color Code,” but aren’t minorities because they chose to come to America.  This group often is mistaken for either group when they are a mixture of both.  The story “How to date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” by Junot Diaz is a good example of this culture that shares elements of both.   Diaz is from the Dominican Republic, which is an island that is in Central America.  His culture is that of the Hispanic Immigrant, but the island is the most African influenced culture.  Dominicans are often labeled as part of the African American Minority, but that is because Americans ignorantly base that on the “Color Code” or skin color of the person. 

I believe that studying the narratives of these different cultures groups has shown me the differences between the two groups.  I also learned that there was a third group of people that could be both given the situation.  I feel that my ignorance on the subject is fading away and as the course goes along, I am gaining a deeper understanding of the American culture.  If the American or Dominant culture would spend some time learning about these groups, I think that the view of Immigration and Minority status in this country would significantly change for the better.  The reason that there are problems with Immigration and with Minorities is because our government doesn’t understand them.  I’m not saying that it would fix everything or that it would be an easy road, but it would be a step in the right direction.

Works Cited

Baldwin, James.  “No Name in the Street” Handout pgs (284-290)

Bulosan, Carlos.  “America is in the Heart” Handout pgs (60-73)

Chrystos.  “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government” Poem

Diaz, Junot.  “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie” pgs (276-279).

IMAGINING AMERICA:  STORIES FROM THE PROMISED LAND

Persea Books New York 2002.

Mohr, Nicholasa.  “The English Lesson” pgs (21-34) IMAGINING AMERICA:  STORIES FROM THE PROMISED LAND Persea Books New York 2002  

Rodriguez, Richard.  “Hunger of Memory” Handout pgs (229-235).

Yezierska, Anzia.  “Soap and Water” Handout pgs (105-110).

Time Log

Writing

Start:  Friday June 27^th 11:05am

End:   Friday June 27^th 1:15pm

Editing

Start:  Saturday June 28^th 10:30am

End:   Saturday June 28^th 11:30am