Cultural Diversity in America

Diversity is an important part of American culture. Cultural diversity has helped to shape the way we live everyday as well as the different foods we eat. What really thought me about diversity is that it is not limited just too racial or ethnic groups but other minority groups. The new information I have learned about diversity still has not changed my views. I think it is important to learn about others cultures and backgrounds. Without knowledge about other cultural groups we would only have stereotypes to go off of. Stereotypes without proper knowledge can lead to discrimination or prejudices.

I did learn about my own ethnic background and how far we still need to go. The Hipic people are still the lowest paid. Recently we are still fighting against prejudice in regards to immigration laws. There are many ignorant people that view all Hipic people should not be in this country. Some automatically think we all come from Mexico. Which is not the case, both my parents are American and my mother’s parent are from the US. On my dad’s side my grandmother was from Mexico as well as my grandpa who fought in WWII, Vietnam, and Korean War.

He is a real hero and it is unfair that he has fought for our freedom but some would want him deported. Trends in immigration are steadily rising and should continue to do so. In 2050 the White population will become a minority and the minority groups will become the majority. There are many cultures that strive to migrate to the United stated to live out the American dream. Our country was built by immigrants trying to escape a country they could no longer believe in. Those people wanted freedom to believe and live the way they wanted too.

That is still the dream of all immigrants to move on to a new country and build a better life for themselves and their families. The major challenge the United States faces due the diversity of its people is losing the American culture in the mist of all the different cultural groups. Also American will suffer from prejudice and discrimination against those immigrants because they are different. Even though American risks losing its culture due to diversity it is also a benefit. The diversity in American culture can teach everyone to be more tolerant of different ethnic groups.

Also it helps improve American culture by adapting to new culture traditions and celebrations. In order to foster acceptance and cultural pluralism in the United States, we need to start living with an open mind and heart. We also need to create an education program to teach everyone about each other and their cultural backgrounds. Also by adapting to different cultural traditions we can participate in that culture. For example, In the United States we celebrate the Chinese New Year and CInco De Mayo.

Also we need to find a way to stop depending on stereotypes to teach us about different groups. The media is also portraying different groups of people a certain way. I have always found that the news media try to find the most ignorant person to interview or someone that could prove that ethnic stereotype correct. There are many examples of this in recent news for example, The interview with Sweet Brown and her famous line “ Ain’t nobody got time for that” or the interview of Antoine Dodson and all the funny YouTube videos that it has turned out.

The media also does some good for example all the media coverage they do on gay rights as well as coverage on the Travon Martin case. With the Travon Martin case we saw a man that was prejudice against a young black male and kill him. The media tried to do their best to show how wrong Zimmerman was in the situation. Showing these types of issues in the media it shows people it is not ok to hate or to take a young life because you are ignorant to their cultural background.

Individually I know I have been prejudice against certain groups and knew the way I was acting was wrong. What I found I needed to work on is to be more accepting of everyone and treat others the way I want to be treated. I would not want to be discriminated against and I found no one else does either. I think we also need to live life and not judge people by the way they look but by their actions. The United States as a whole needs to teach its people that prejudice is still alive and discrimination is still happening.

The United States also needs to review its anti-discrimination laws and make sure they are still valid and revise the ones that need to be improved with our changing times. I also think there should be cultural diversity appreciation month that teaches about different cultures not just African Americans or Hipic culture but about, Asian cultures and Middle Eastern cultures as well. We also need to start teaching children young to be accepting of everyone since they are our future. You are a reflection of then and they are a reflection of you.