Race in the US

Although many people don’t know the difference between one’s race and one’s ethnicity a difference does exist. Race refers to groups of people who have differences and similarities in biological traits believed by society to be significant. The term ethnicity refers to shared cultural practices, perspectives, and distinctions that set apart one group of people from another (http://www.cliffsnotes.co m/sciences/sociology/race-and-ethnicity/race-and-ethnicity-defined).Some of the choices for race are: American Indian or Alaskan Native, or a person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment; Asian, a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Vietnam; Black or African American, a person having origins in any of the black racial groups or Africa; Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, are people who have origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands; White, is a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa (http://www.occ.gov/static/community-affairs/community-developments-newsletter/summer05/cd/eth nicityandrace.htm).

            Although there is many different races living in the United States not all people fall under or identify with the commonly known races. Throughout the years more and more Latino or Hispanic people have come to the Unites States to stay and feel like outsiders since they don’t consider themselves of one of the more common races. Many people, including myself, don’t know or didn’t know the difference between ones ethnicity and one’s race. It is easy for us to answer questions on our ethnicity but when asked what our race is we don’t have an answer. A few month ago I was volunteering at Family Focus, an organization that helps US residents become US citizens, and many of the people I helped were not sure or confused about the race question.

            Jiménez (2013) stated a very important question on whether or not today’s immigrants and their descendants will participate in American society since the growth of the immigrant population in recent decades has increased. The immigrants and their descendants will participate in American society because once we have lived in one place for a long time we get used the environment and don’t want to leave. It is not only up to us, the children of immigrants, to participate in American society, it is up to American society to accept us and to change to fit us and our cultures. American society has changed since the first immigrants decided to come to the US but as more and more come, American society has to keep up. Boza (2006) wrote it should come as no surprise to most that Hispanics face discrimination in the United States. Many people in the United States view Hispanics as poor, illiterate, tainted, illegal aliens and who are prone to teenage pregnancy. In order for immigrants to feel conferrable in h US, their new home, views on them have to change for good. 

Sources:

• Golash-Boza, Tanya. "Dropping the Hyphen? Becoming Latino(a)-American through Racialized Assimilation." Social Forces 85.1 (2006): 27-55. EBSCOhost Business Source Complete. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. 
• Jimenez, Tomas R. "Mexican Immigrant Replenishment and the Continuing Significance of Ethnicity and Race." American Journal of Sociology 113.6 (2008): 1527-1567. JSTOR Arts & Sciences 1 Current. Web. 14 Mar. 2013.