Treating Race and Ethnicity in History Essay

The fact that American history is strongly associated with racial and ethnic issues in undeniable. Over the centuries, the migrated ethnic groups faced rigid discrimination on the part of dominating population. The indigenous population of America also confronted significant social and cultural pressure on the part of white people coming from Europe.

The point is that differences in races are not premised on biological characteristics, but on social ones. Indeed, social perceptions are strongly linked to cultural beliefs of various ethnic groups. Diverse ideological systems have become the corner stone for various groups to become a united community with common values and belief systems.

There is no unanimous opinion concerning the nature of racial confrontation. Nevertheless, the history testifies to the dominance of white race over the others. Therefore, racism often served as a tool for colonizing, enslaving, and conquering new territories. Similar to racial distinctions, ethnic groups are also divided in accordance to different cultural and racial backgrounds.

In case the population of one ethnic group prevails, the other ones are considered as minorities whose beliefs, culture, and traditions are often under the pressure. Prejudice, bias, and stereotypes have been formed as a result of these confrontations. In this respect, the African people migrating to the United States were not accepted by the dominating society and, therefore, they were deprived of the human rights, including freedom and equality.

Despite the fact that racial discrimination has been exterminated in the course of time, some stereotypes and prejudices have been left. Ethnic stereotypes have been shaped as predominant images that are applied to discriminate the members of various communities. The existence of negative prejudices, however, distorts the overall information about specific community.

Discrimination is another effect of unequal distribution of ethnic groups on one territory. To be more exact, there is always a prevailing group that shapes and influences the attitude of the rest of the population. Inequality stands at the core of relation between racial and ethnic groups due to the unequal treatment of each other. Such a perspective can still be applied nowadays since many stereotypic images exist and have a potent impact on social organization.

The history of U.S. immigration proves that stereotypic images and discrimination have not contributed positively to the development of a socially and culturally healthy environment. Enslavement and pressure imposed on migrated African Americans, as well as overall treatment of immigrants, prove that people are unable to reconcile with biological differences.

Ethnic minorities tend to undergo racial discrimination due to their differences from the majority of social groups. These differences, nevertheless, have now become more respected by prevailing communities due to the globalization trends and tolerance of cultural diversity. Such a treatment creates a politically correct environment within which people should have enough space for self-expression and development.

In conclusion, all the communities have dominating norms and values, as well as those that are rarely used. Therefore, it is logical some of the cultural norms are not accepted by the majority groups.

Such a situation creates contradictions in terms of treating various ethnic groups whose traditions and customs are not respected in the community. In the course of time, the conditions have changed and closer attention is given to understanding cultural diversity in a globalized world. The tendency is a necessary solution for all the ethnic groups and races to be treated equally.