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The Effect of Belonging on American Dream
The American dream is all about social mobility, the dream that anyone could become a millionaire or the President of the U.S., no matter how poor. For most of the Americans and immigrants to America it is still a dream, however, the way most people view the American dream has been altered over the past few years. The American dream has just been buried under a pile of rubble created by political doubletalk. For some, the American dream is still a reality, but certainly not for others.
Many immigrants have thrived in the US and are currently grateful for the opportunities they have been presented here. More technical skills are needed these days to make the same upwardly mobile transitions that others did in the past through sheer hard work. Not all economically prosperous regions of the US require huge outlays for housing which is probably the main deterrent nowadays for greater personal prosperity. When people use the term hyphenated Americans, it sounds like they just mean "non-white" Americans. The more accurate meaning of the term simply denotes immigrants to America or their descendants, particularly those who at least partially still identify with their ancestral homeland. To varying degrees, this probably describes the majority of people in America. As for the question itself, it probably depends more on which ancestral group is under discussion, and how strongly they identify with their heritage. Whether being African-American, Asian-American, Latin American, Native American, etc., all separate questions with quirks specific to the group and even the region being discussed (Tsosie). For example, the history of the Chinese in America and the history of the Japanese in America are not, by any means, the same.
There can be more than one interpretation of having a feeling of belongingness to a place. Is there a place for immigrants or African Americans in American society? America brought Afro-Americans and immigrants for a reason. Ideally, they could fit perfectly in society as long as they stayed in the same place, the society at large always wanted them to be in second class citizens. Take an example of a company where majority of the employees are well-paid professions, the janitors hired for cleaning the toilets technically belongs at the same company but that does not mean that they are viewed with the same respect as the rest of the salary employees. They are fine with the janitor as long as the janitor does the job tasked to him, but the janitor might be viewed as a problem if they suddenly wanted to be treated as more than a janitor and do more for the company than mop floors and clean toilets.
So yes, in a way African Americans and other second-class citizen or immigrants do "belong" but it is in a position that they don't want to be in (Frank and McPhail). They didn't even apply for this job here in America, but they are expected to fulfill their duties without complaint and to never ask for a promotion or raise. However, because they have demanded an elevation of status in society; being an African American or immigrant vying for a place outside of second-class citizenship without complaint. When a black person or immigrant steps out of their expected "place" they step into a swarm of microaggressions that are constantly questioning why they are there. A bunch of assumptions based on the idea that Afro-Americans and immigrants are not where they are supposed to be, they have to shed real aspects of their identities to belong (Cooper). It is still implied that being black or immigrant is not welcomed in general society outside of where they want it.
The internment of Japanese Americans was on a completely different level and scale. Also, the US federal government has not issued an apology for Italian internment. The Japanese also interned civilians of various nationalities as they expanded their empire. The Dutch, in particular, were brutalized and tens of thousands died in Japanese concentration camps. However, the real difference is that the wider German-American and Italian-American communities were not targeted in the way Japanese Americans were. There were some initial restrictions, some arrests and interrogations, a relatively small number of relocation orders, and a small number who were detained for a couple of years. However, no large-scale internment of an entire Japanese population. It was almost entirely restricted to alien/foreign nationals that posed a certain perceived risk.
When Martin Luther King Jr. said "I have a dream" He referred to his anticipation that Afro-Americans would enjoy freedoms equal rights as enjoyed by white people. He did not use the word “dream” in the literal logic, that he dreamed of equality and freedom one night. In fact, he used the word “dream” as metaphor. he had a motivation that everyone, in America will enjoy the same rights and freedom. The speech of Martin Luther King addressed respect among all Americans, both white and black. This speech is needed because there had been too much hatred and oppression when everyone should have been no violence or hatred (King). That day in Washington D.C. changed many lives and inspired many to keep pushing for civil rights.
More often than not it is considered that America being "The land of free" is not free. Everyone living in the US is a slave, and they don't realize it. They're enslaved by debt. According to most of the American immigrants; They're not "Born Free", they're born in debt. They don't "Live Free", They live in debt, and eventually die in debt. "The home of the brave" doesn't approve of people who stand up for themselves, and harbor thoughts contrary to their slave masters. They're branded "terrorist, extremist, fanatic, revolutionary, radical, insurgent, guerrilla, anarchist, freedom fighter, bomber, gunman, assassin, hijacker, incendiary" and "enemies of the State" and put in "Offshore" prisons, without trial, tortured, and have their very existence denied. Others who are "Officially" labeled as "Brave" are sent off to foreign lands to kill and be killed. Dead soldiers are labelled "Heroes" and have their names engraved in stone, to be mourned by their loved ones and not spared a further thought by their slave masters who sent them to die. The dream is an opportunity for any person to obtain wealth and happiness (Malcolm). However, these days equal opportunity employment is not possible unless you are very educated, very wealthy or very connected in the community. if must depend on where you live in the USA too.
Living in the past is just one of the ways African Americans continue to enslave themselves. Mass Incarceration is just the latest myth being used by liberals to fool the ignorant masses into maintaining the government plantation system, set up by Lyndon Johnson in his "Great Society". The growing number of African Americans must be encouraged, like Senator Tim Scott, who no longer believe the government will make everything better. We were both sickened by the recent DOJ investigation of the Chicago police department. Instead of putting their twelve-month effort into rules and recommendations to stop the mass murder taking part in this city, DOJ determined that the police weren't sensitive to minorities and would need more supervision, training, and forms to fill out. While poor blacks are being terrorized by gang violence, they are being taught that they are the victims of racism, rather than the bullets flying over their heads. Most of the leftists think it is not the Right's right to speak out as freely against the things we don't want as your side speaks out in favor of. Then freedom of speech belongs exclusively to the Left (Frank and McPhail).
American dream is not associated with guaranteed results; however, the dream is all about the pursuit of opportunities. The persona in the fictional characters of the 19th-century writer Horatio Alger Jr. was found in the dream. The persona in which young working-class protagonists go from rags to riches (or at least become middle class) in part due to entrepreneurial spirit and hard work.
Works Cited
Cooper, Allan D. "From Slavery to Genocide: The Fallacy of Debt in Reparations Discourse." Journal of Black Studies, vol. 43, no. 2, 2012, pp. 107–126.
Frank, David A., and Mark Lawrence McPhail. "Barack Obama's Address to the 2004 Democratic National Convention: Trauma, Compromise, Consilience, and the (I'm) Possibility of Racial Reconciliation." Rhetoric & Public Affairs, vol. 8, no. 4, 2005, pp. 571–593.
King, Martin Luther. I Have a Dream: Martin Luther King, Jr. Pyramid Posters, 2000.
Malcolm, X. "The Ballot or the Bullet." April, vol. 3, 1964, pp. 23–44.
Tsosie, Rebecca. "Acknowledging the Past to Heal the Future: The Role of Reparations for Native Nations." Reparations: Interdisciplinary Inquiries, 2007, pp. 43–68.
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