As a minority of this society I can relate to a lot of Anna
Julia Cooper’s ideas of pluralism, assimilation, segregation, and
genocide. Growing up I was made to
believe in pluralism, where everyone regardless of ethnicity can all live as
equal. However, seeing how some studies
have showed that this really isn't the case and from some personal experiences,
my view of pluralism has changed. Rather we may see it or not there is still a
great deal of racism going on today.
This brings us to assimilation, and how I think the two kind of relate
to one another. Assimilation is the
process of conforming a group into the dominate group. However not many minorities have all the
necessary skills to conform, and thus refuse to do so. This is often seen as a negative, and I think
some form of racism can rise from this.
If a person does not assimilate, than that person is often out caste
and is somewhat hated. Although
segregation of race is no longer a law, I often see it unintentionally. I often see this when I visit my younger
sister’s high school or simply walking through the cafeteria here on our
campus. I often see whites sitting with
whites, blacks with blacks, Asians with Asians. Etc. We are supposedly be a diverse community, but
that isn't the case at all. Finally the
last thing I want to talk about is genocide.
My family was given the chance to come to this country because of our
involvement to help the USA during the Vietnam War. After the US pulled out of the war, the
Vietnamese was trying to rid of us because of our involvement. My family escaped to refugee camp and
eventually was allow to come here. What
I am trying to get at with this is that Cooper’s idea is still relevant today. The US is supposed to be a melting pot of
people. I don’t really believe that
because the idea of everyone becoming one in a pot just disturbs me. I like to view the US as a salad bowl,
because we are all represented in the bowl with a unique flavor. The picture below helps demonstrate this.
Good Job! I thought it was interesting that you had shared some of your own experiences growing up and how it had related to Anna Julia Cooper. Very interesting point on how our society is today. All your points seem to be very accurate with what we may see walking around campus here. I agree and think most of what Anna Cooper talks about is relevant still today but not so much spoken about. Your image was great and explains your point well. Good job, one thing that might be a good thing to add is more about Cooper’s time and maybe compare and contrast more. Overall great job, I really enjoyed it.
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