Expertly Crafted Essay On Assimilation In The United States Of America

The United States of America is a country that has been characterized by the cultural diversity of its population. Since many centuries ago, people of various races, nationalities and creeds have lived together in this great nation, yet not always in a peaceful manner. The article “Melting Pot or Salad Bowl” seeks to explore the extent to which cultural assimilation has happened in the United States.
Traditionally, Christians of Caucasian descent have been the dominant culture in the United States. Even though this was even upheld by laws before, it is now still true to a certain degree, as they make up the greatest part of the population and have the grandest lot of the power, both economic and political.
African-Americans have probably been the most affected by this oppression; they came into the country as slaves many centuries ago, meaning that they were involuntarily introduced, unlike the other ethnicities. They have traditionally been the group who has had the assimilation experience the hardest. Even though they were emancipated after the Civil War, the legal discrimination against them continued, which culminated in the Civil Rights Movement that started in the decade of the 1950s.
The Twenty-first Century experience has been somewhat different, with many achievements towards social, cultural and economic assimilation for all ethnicities. In this sense, second generation immigrants earn a median of only one hundred dollars less than all of the United States, and they have five percent more people graduated than the standard. Nevertheless, both African-Americas and Hispanics still do not count with proper representation in Congress, and many people have not been able to break the poverty cycles that their families have been immersed in. Even though America is fighting towards being a universal nation, there is still a long way to go. Nevertheless, it is still a great nation made up of many different colors that come together to make one.
Even though this essay is very interesting and raises many important issues, I believe that it downplays the important racial tensions that are still latent in the United States of America. This is obvious in the success of a racist and xenophobic presidential candidate such as Donald Trump. Many people still believe that immigrants should not be in America and that they are one of the main problems that the country has.
Furthermore, as one has been able to see in the past months, the African-American community still feels that it is being mistreated, especially by white people and law enforcement. Many videos of unwarranted police brutality towards blacks have documented this fact, and they have become viral, being known by almost everybody. Even though there are many that most of the blue-collar crimes are perpetrated by minorities, there should be many more laws implemented in order to break the cycles of poverty that lead many poor people towards crime, especially African-Americans. If they are not given opportunities, how can they be expected to rise above the trajectory that they have been given?
It is important to not stay in the Romantic point of view that sees America as being a great nation of equality and opportunity. Obviously, many people believe that this is not true and are fighting against it, yet the ruling class has not taken the important actions it needs to, in order to change the established order. If people do not start treating each other as equals, the greatness of this country will lamentably tumble.