[Author][Professor][Subject][Date of Submission]
Today, it seems the world is known as the global village because of the advancement of technology that keeps people in different nationalities to mingle. The internet made a drastic change not only to peoples’ relationships but even to the world of trade and business. People can already wire money from the other side of the world to another. Despite this, there are things that are not changing and this includes the persisting intolerance in the United States of America in terms of race, ethnic, and religion.
Ishmael Reed in his article entitled, “America: The Multi-Cultural Society” mentioned that the crazy attempt of Adolf Hitler to purify the German race by exterminating other races failed. However, puritans still exist in America who deliberately doing hate actions against the other races. We are already in the 21st century and it seems that the situation of intolerance is still the same centuries ago.
Ismael Reed is speaking according to experience as an African-American. He compared in his article the situation of cultural tolerance from when he was still studying in a university until he is already working as a professor in the same academic institution. He described that even in the 21st century racism, monoculturalism, ethnocentrism and other forms of intolerance still persist. Intolerance persists despite the fact that America by culture is diverse even thousand years ago. Tracing the migration history in the country, America was already inhabited by Europeans, Asians, Africans and the natives thousand years ago. Aside from the natives who kept their cultures and traditions intact, the other races shared their cultures and in the process mix it. Reed asserted that America should not be seen as a country with one culture. In a political sense, the term “American culture” is a mixture of many cultures all over Europe, Asia, Africa and the indigenous peoples who call themselves, “first nations”.
The puritans who despise the culture of the natives should be ashamed of themselves because without the culture and technology of the natives, they would not have survived when they migrated in the Americas. Even the term “New World” which was coined by the Europeans is not acceptable for the natives. It is as if the first settlers in the area were not people. It is a discriminatory term.
As always mentioned by a stand-up comedian named Harry Kondabolu who is an American-Indian, intolerance is no longer accepted in the 21st century and the puritans should be ashamed because they were not even the first to settle in America. Kondabolu always pick on the white superiority especially when the said population were panicking because of the rising population of other races. He articulated that race is a social construct that divides people. The term spawned intolerance because other races think they are superior to the others.
Meanwhile, monoculturalism has no difference than religious fundamentalism in other parts of the world. It is when one religion is arrogantly imposing that its beliefs are the ultimate truth. This arrogance always results to treating other people with different religion as filthy, sinners, and even carrier of evil. The long-running war between Palestine and Israel for example can be rooted to religious fundamentalism. The Christians in Israel are lynching the Jewish Palestine as they regard them as threat to their faith. Many lives have been sacrificed even women and children because of this intolerance. However, protecting religion by killing people is an injustice and contradictory to what any religion preaches. The main principles of any religion are tolerance, love and peace.
In America, fundamentalism can be seen in history when the white race exterminated the race of the natives. History can tell the injustices committed against the fighting indigenous peoples. The white race drove them in the deeper parts of the forests in their relentless pursuit operations. They brought illness that resulted to genocide of several tribes of the indigenous peoples as they do not have the immunity for foreign virus and bacteria brought.
After the systematic killings committed against the natives, there still exist groups of extremist today. The intolerance-motivated terrorism committed by the infamous Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux klan was founded in 1866. Its killings targeted the black and white population of the Republican. In the 20th century, Ku Klux klan wage terror through burning, bombings, killings, among others to display intolerance to migrants, Jews, Blacks, Catholics, and even organized labor.
Looking back, it is unimaginable how humanity was destroyed just because people cannot tolerate each other’s’ differences. On the other hand, people learned lessons from the aforementioned historical injustices. Civil Rights movement was established in America denouncing all forms of intolerance. The movement spawned radical changes including awareness across all races, and ethnics. The movement went through many difficulties including being targets of hate crimes, but its leaders are courageous enough to continue and make things happen.
The Civil Rights movement and the other movements that were founded later are evidences that humanity rise from its destruction. It is an evidence to show that people have the capacity to accept, tolerate and respect each other. The rights movements all over America today is a beacon of hope that all races, cultures and ethnics will no longer regard themselves as higher than others. It illuminates the dark minds of people who are still feeling the hatred. Eventually, it will spawn justice to the races who were discriminated, lynched and killed because of hate.
Reed’s article reflects that America is a melting pot of races, and ethnics. Since the early 20th century, they had been luring countless young and old people all over the world to the “American Dream”. To the minds of the people, America is a land of flowing milk and honey. In pursuing this dream, countless individuals from the far-east even engaged into trafficking. Reality bites them once they set foot in the country where they are welcomed with disgust by the white population. When they apply for jobs, they are given the blue collars and paid very low compared to the superior race.
Reed mentioned that he is a professor in Yale. It means there are levels of acceptance already to the African-Americans especially those who are academically competitive. However, he also mentioned of continuing intolerance to foreign curriculum that are introduced to Western academics. It only shows the persisting intolerance in the country.
Intolerance according to a famous author Ellie Wiesel is equivalent to evil. It is indeed evil because the word has spawned many acts of violence to humanity including genocide and holocaust. It is important for humanity to continue the movement to eventually overthrow intolerance for all races, ethnics and cultures in the United States of America to thrive.
Works Cited
Reed, Ishmael. America: The Multinational Society. Guest Spot. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Ku Klux Klan. History. (2014). Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Daniels, Mike. Christian Fundamentalists Support Israel. Why? Secular News Daily. (7 Jun. 2010). Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Mandelbaum, Lia. Hitler’s Inspirational Guide: The Native American Holocaust. Sacred Intentions: Jewish Journal. (18 Jun. 2013). Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Late Show with David Letterman. “David Letterman-Comedian Hari Kondabolu.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 14 May 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
