A multiracial nation

The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492 changed the lives of many people all over the world. When in 1630 the first settlers came, the multicultural aspect of the United States of America began to form itself. Throughout the centuries, people moved to this continent to escape church persecution and war, and later to live the American Dream.

There were two groups who that greatly suffered from the European expansion. First the Native Americans who’s culture and way of living weren’t respected nor understood by the settlers. They had no medicine against the European diseases and many of them died. They couldn’t defend their land and their territory became smaller and smaller. Today the Native Americans live in reservations mainly located in California, Arizona and Oklahoma.

The other population that suffered from the settlements were the African Americans. They were brought to America as slaves and lived mainly in the South. They didn’t have any rights and they had to fight for their freedom for centuries.

In 1950, Mr. and Mrs. Clark, both African American psychologists, did a doll test with African American children in integrated schools in the North and segregated schools in the South. The test consisted of letting the children chose between a white doll and a black doll. The results showed that most African American children preferred to play with a white doll and that most of them perceived the white doll as ‘nice’ and the black doll as ‘bad’. This test showed how racial segregation destroyed the self esteem of African American children.

In 2005, a student of Manhattan’s Urban Academy, conducted the same test with African American children from a daycare center in Harlem. This was the shocking result of the videotaped documentary:

The reassuring female voice asks the child a question: “Can you show me the doll that looks bad?”

The child, a preschool-aged African American girl, quickly picks up and shows the Black doll over a White one that is identical in every respect except complexion.

“And why does that look bad?”
“Because she’s Black,” the little girl answers emphatically.

“And why is this the nice doll?” the voice continues.
“Because she’s White.”

“And can you give me the doll that looks like you?”

The little girl hesitates for a split second before handing over the Black doll that she has just designated as the uglier one.[1]

Nowadays, the United States are a society in which people of many different races live together. According to a research done by the New York Times in 2000 “race relations are being defined less by political action than by daily experience, in schools, in sports arenas, in pop culture and at worship, and especially in the workplace.”[2]  The doll test shows the same results as in 1950, which means that even though African Americans have the same rights as white people, they still live with complexions and a low self esteem.

However, it needs to be said that in modern American society, not only African Americans, but also Hispanic and Asian American populations have their problems with white Americans and also with each other. These four largest ethnic groups living in America show major differences in areas such as education, income and home ownership.

A poll of African Americans, Asian Americans and Hispanic on race relations was conducted during August and September of 2007. 1105 adults of these ethnic groups were interviewed by telephone in their mother tongue and asked questions about how they experience the relations towards other races.

Some of the findings were:

·         A majority of the African Americans (47%), Hispanics (61%) and Asian Americans (53%) feel more comfortable doing business with white businessmen then with businessmen from one of the other two ethnic groups.

·         44% of Hispanics and 47% of Asian Americans say they are generally afraid by African Americans because they cause most of the crime.

·         A large percentage of the African Americans, 71%, believes that the American justice system favors rich and powerful people. It is also remarkable that only 44% believe in the American Dream, and only 30% believe that every American (Black, White, Hispanic or Asian) has the same chances to succeed.

·         All three groups show that religion or spirituality is very important in their life.

·         More than half of all three groups say that there is discrimination against their community in the United States.

·         Strong majorities of all three groups believe that racial tensions will ease over the next 10 years. [3]

This poll shows that racial division in the United States is still an important and relevant subject and that every ethnic group has issues. It is not stated on paper that African, Asian or Hispanic Americans don’t have the same rights or possibilities to live a prosperous life, but that feeling is there. “Race is so associated with class in the United States that it may not be direct discrimination, but it still matters indirectly,” says Dalton Conley, a sociology professor at New York University[4]. For example, when hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans and the African American community  felt like the slow and incompetent way help was send to this area was a sign that the government didn’t want to help them. As Barack Obama describes in his book[5], people felt abandoned long before Katrina came. A women told Obama that before the storm she had nothing, and that now she had less than nothing. And even though Hispanics have improved their lives tremendously since 1979 by hard work and commitment to the family, the average salary of a Latino is 71% of the average salary of a white American. And it is to be questioned if a representation of two Senators is enough to come up for Asian American rights. In a society that proclaimed people to be equal, isn’t this a sign of trouble?

Is it fair to blame the media or the government? It is easy, that’s for sure, but blame will not help to solve this problem. The solutions should be sought in mental adjustment and removal of stereotypical judgments. Programs to improve education and/or health should concentrate on American society as a whole, not just on one ethnic group. Jobs need to be created in the ghettos and city centers where the poorest people of America live. And most of all, America needs to look ahead and stop looking backwards. If in every situation old wounds are opened, those wounds will never heal. Which does not mean that they should be forgotten. On the contrary, everybody knows that scars will remain. But America should focus on its society as one. As Barack Obama put this into words: “ There is no black America, or white America, or Latino America, or Asian America – there is only the United States of America”.[6]