Cross-Cultural Analysis Of African American Culture
Cross Cultural Analysis Essay
I was born in Miami, Florida, which is in South Florida. I am a 22-year-old, straight, half Christian half jewish male who was born into a high social class. Growing up my mother instilled a sense of religion in me as my family attended church on a regular basis. I am the younger of two children and I am an athletic, on the shorter side, black haired, green eyed, Cuban American. My older brother Jesse Kapel is 29 years old, male, married and with a one year old baby. I have always looked up to my brother as a role model. I speak English and Spanish fluently. I had a wealth of educational resources available to me since I went to a private school from kindergarten to fifth grade. My middle school was much more diverse than my private elementary school. I attended the local public high school, which was mostly white. However there were many racial issues between blacks, hispanics, and whites. Many of which ended up in fights. All three schools however were high rated schools in which I felt I got the most out of my education. I did not have choices on my schooling until I reached high school in which I chose to attend the districts public school assigned to my zone.
I have a tight knit family with two married parents and one older brother. My family’s socio-economic status is high class because my father, Cliiff Kapel own his own aviation business. My mom and dad are CEO and COO of their business that they run mostly out of South America. The advantages to my family’s status were that all the resources for anything …show more content…
were at my disposal. I never struggled for anything growing up. Anything I needed was always provided for me. The disadvantages however were that since the majority of our class was white, sometimes I experienced levels of racism even though I am half white. People would make jokes such as did I float to Florida on a tire or I must be a really good swimmer, among other things. Personally, my racial experiences only escalated to disputes and a few fights. What have made me who I am today however are these special experiences I have had. I have friends and family in every socio economic class there is. I have friends who are rich and famous as well as friends who struggle everyday. My experiences with them have made me a very worldly and diverse person who can adapt to any situation.
The cultural identity I identify with is a multi cultural one that includes many different qualities. My cultural identity conflicts here at the University of Colorado at Boulder because of the huge discrepancy in the amount of white students compared to hispanic and black students. Racism is still a problem on many college campuses across the country, but I think it is more covert nowadays because most people are scared of being labeled a racist. These covert ways can include cyber racism. Racism on college campuses these days often spreads through email or via popular social networking sites, such as Facebook. I feel that there are problems with students as well as professors. White students might not realize how offensive and troubling racist jokes can be and others tell jokes intentionally because they know the jokes cause pain. Growing up I always played sports mainly football and basketball and this helped me become more culturally informed. I learned a lot about African Americans and the types of racism they face .One tradition specific to my culture that I celebrate is Chistmakah is what we like to call it. It is a mix between Christmas and Chanukah. My moms side of the family is Cuban and are very religious christians and my dads side is jewish but not nearly as religious. We as a family find it very important to celebrate both cultures. The significance of this event is that it brings our cultures closer together and find a way to tie in two completely different cultures into one. I learned my own cultural identity through friends as well as the people I did not fit in with. This way I quickly learned what type of people I am like and what type of people I am not like. I do not believe my cultural identity however has affected the people I have met and the opportunities I have had. I feel that I am a rare example of this though because I was born into a high class and was able to receive things that my other friends were not. My father through business has met a lot of high power people including presidents of other countries and has been able to bring me to things that most people would never be able to go.
My interviewee was Max Kaim and he was born in Austin, Texas.. I met him through my ex-girlfriend and he is now a family friend. I chose him because he was white and somewhat similar to me but I wanted to see how a prototypical white male would compare to someone who is half white half cuban. He is a white middle-aged white man, brown hair, blue eyes. He has one younger brother who is attending college at the University of Texas Pan-America. His father was an Electrical Engineer in the aerospace industry who also graduated from the University of Texas Pan-America. His mother is the typical stay at home mom and housewife. He was born into high class as well with his family being very wealthy. Therefore he had many advantages. Growing up he had financial security and all of his needs and wants were met. The family moved to Arlington, Texas when James was three years old. In Arlington, James attended kindergarten. Soon After his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where he spent his grade school years. James attended the local public school. After grade school his family moved again. This time the family moved to the Clear Lake area, south of Houston, Texas, nears the Johnson Space Center. James attended Clear Creek High School there during the years of the first lunar landings. He moved to Dallas to attend college at the University of Dallas. Throughout his life he has been continually placed in leadership positions: top scholastic honors each grade during grade school, captain of the school safety patrol, patrol leader in Boy Scouts, President of Student Council in grade school, President of the church youth organization all four years of High School and President of Student Government in college.
His interests are broad and varied.
For example, while in high school he participated for two summers in extensive environmental studies of Clear Lake and the Clear Creek Basin. These studies won U. S. presidential awards. As another example, in high school he founded, with five other high school students, a television production company. They then talked their way into the press center to cover the first lunar
landing.
He received his college degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, at a liberal arts university: the University of Dallas. Philosophy, History, Theology, English Literature, Politics, Art History, Economics and other similar studies contributed significantly to his education and continue to interest James even today.
Additionally, he attended the University's campus in Rome for one of his sophomore semesters. The school weeks there are four days long: the three-day weekends are for travel. Over 75 percent of the University's sophomore's participate in this program, the highest recorded percentage in the United States. Since then, he has been back to Europe for one long vacation, and several times to speak professionally. Although focused in the information technology industry, James has written and produced industrial video, developed technical education programs, consulted with national political parties regarding their data processing efforts, worked in sales and marketing and speaks professionally on a variety of technology topics.
I grew up on the southern east coast where I feel it is more diverse than where Max grew up, the Texas south. I don’t feel like this affected James at all because he had the resources to become a very diverse person. Culturally, I feel I had a much more culturally diverse upbringing. Almost all of Maxs’ peers, friends and colleagues were white. As for me, I was around all types of people of all different races. This was because I played sports, which is one of the reasons why I feel sports has so many benefits outside of just athletically. The only glaring difference between Max and myself upbringing is our cultural identity.
Max’s cultural identity has helped him over the course of his life. His father is the epitome of the high-class white male; which occupies the highest spot in our society. Therefore he had all the social benefits as well growing up which allowed him to obtain many of the leaderships spots he had throughout school. Max and I were very similar in our upbringing. The main difference was that Max had white privilege without the discrimination of also being Hispanic and the stereotypes that correspond, along with all the resources at his disposal. I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. White privilege is a way of conceptualizing racial inequalities that focuses as much on the advantages that white people accrue from society as on the disadvantages that of difference races experience. White privilege is a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people's conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country.
White privilege exists on an individual, cultural, and institutional level. Max and I almost had every similarity in the world in terms our upbringings. The two differences that I felt really set our upbringings apart were that I played sports and that he was fully white.
I was born in Miami, Florida, which is in South Florida. I am a 22-year-old, straight, half Christian half jewish male who was born into a high social class. Growing up my mother instilled a sense of religion in me as my family attended church on a regular basis. I am the younger of two children and I am an athletic, on the shorter side, black haired, green eyed, Cuban American. My older brother Jesse Kapel is 29 years old, male, married and with a one year old baby. I have always looked up to my brother as a role model. I speak English and Spanish fluently. I had a wealth of educational resources available to me since I went to a private school from kindergarten to fifth grade. My middle school was much more diverse than my private elementary school. I attended the local public high school, which was mostly white. However there were many racial issues between blacks, hispanics, and whites. Many of which ended up in fights. All three schools however were high rated schools in which I felt I got the most out of my education. I did not have choices on my schooling until I reached high school in which I chose to attend the districts public school assigned to my zone.
I have a tight knit family with two married parents and one older brother. My family’s socio-economic status is high class because my father, Cliiff Kapel own his own aviation business. My mom and dad are CEO and COO of their business that they run mostly out of South America. The advantages to my family’s status were that all the resources for anything …show more content…
were at my disposal. I never struggled for anything growing up. Anything I needed was always provided for me. The disadvantages however were that since the majority of our class was white, sometimes I experienced levels of racism even though I am half white. People would make jokes such as did I float to Florida on a tire or I must be a really good swimmer, among other things. Personally, my racial experiences only escalated to disputes and a few fights. What have made me who I am today however are these special experiences I have had. I have friends and family in every socio economic class there is. I have friends who are rich and famous as well as friends who struggle everyday. My experiences with them have made me a very worldly and diverse person who can adapt to any situation.
The cultural identity I identify with is a multi cultural one that includes many different qualities. My cultural identity conflicts here at the University of Colorado at Boulder because of the huge discrepancy in the amount of white students compared to hispanic and black students. Racism is still a problem on many college campuses across the country, but I think it is more covert nowadays because most people are scared of being labeled a racist. These covert ways can include cyber racism. Racism on college campuses these days often spreads through email or via popular social networking sites, such as Facebook. I feel that there are problems with students as well as professors. White students might not realize how offensive and troubling racist jokes can be and others tell jokes intentionally because they know the jokes cause pain. Growing up I always played sports mainly football and basketball and this helped me become more culturally informed. I learned a lot about African Americans and the types of racism they face .One tradition specific to my culture that I celebrate is Chistmakah is what we like to call it. It is a mix between Christmas and Chanukah. My moms side of the family is Cuban and are very religious christians and my dads side is jewish but not nearly as religious. We as a family find it very important to celebrate both cultures. The significance of this event is that it brings our cultures closer together and find a way to tie in two completely different cultures into one. I learned my own cultural identity through friends as well as the people I did not fit in with. This way I quickly learned what type of people I am like and what type of people I am not like. I do not believe my cultural identity however has affected the people I have met and the opportunities I have had. I feel that I am a rare example of this though because I was born into a high class and was able to receive things that my other friends were not. My father through business has met a lot of high power people including presidents of other countries and has been able to bring me to things that most people would never be able to go.
My interviewee was Max Kaim and he was born in Austin, Texas.. I met him through my ex-girlfriend and he is now a family friend. I chose him because he was white and somewhat similar to me but I wanted to see how a prototypical white male would compare to someone who is half white half cuban. He is a white middle-aged white man, brown hair, blue eyes. He has one younger brother who is attending college at the University of Texas Pan-America. His father was an Electrical Engineer in the aerospace industry who also graduated from the University of Texas Pan-America. His mother is the typical stay at home mom and housewife. He was born into high class as well with his family being very wealthy. Therefore he had many advantages. Growing up he had financial security and all of his needs and wants were met. The family moved to Arlington, Texas when James was three years old. In Arlington, James attended kindergarten. Soon After his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona where he spent his grade school years. James attended the local public school. After grade school his family moved again. This time the family moved to the Clear Lake area, south of Houston, Texas, nears the Johnson Space Center. James attended Clear Creek High School there during the years of the first lunar landings. He moved to Dallas to attend college at the University of Dallas. Throughout his life he has been continually placed in leadership positions: top scholastic honors each grade during grade school, captain of the school safety patrol, patrol leader in Boy Scouts, President of Student Council in grade school, President of the church youth organization all four years of High School and President of Student Government in college.
His interests are broad and varied.
For example, while in high school he participated for two summers in extensive environmental studies of Clear Lake and the Clear Creek Basin. These studies won U. S. presidential awards. As another example, in high school he founded, with five other high school students, a television production company. They then talked their way into the press center to cover the first lunar
landing.
He received his college degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, at a liberal arts university: the University of Dallas. Philosophy, History, Theology, English Literature, Politics, Art History, Economics and other similar studies contributed significantly to his education and continue to interest James even today.
Additionally, he attended the University's campus in Rome for one of his sophomore semesters. The school weeks there are four days long: the three-day weekends are for travel. Over 75 percent of the University's sophomore's participate in this program, the highest recorded percentage in the United States. Since then, he has been back to Europe for one long vacation, and several times to speak professionally. Although focused in the information technology industry, James has written and produced industrial video, developed technical education programs, consulted with national political parties regarding their data processing efforts, worked in sales and marketing and speaks professionally on a variety of technology topics.
I grew up on the southern east coast where I feel it is more diverse than where Max grew up, the Texas south. I don’t feel like this affected James at all because he had the resources to become a very diverse person. Culturally, I feel I had a much more culturally diverse upbringing. Almost all of Maxs’ peers, friends and colleagues were white. As for me, I was around all types of people of all different races. This was because I played sports, which is one of the reasons why I feel sports has so many benefits outside of just athletically. The only glaring difference between Max and myself upbringing is our cultural identity.
Max’s cultural identity has helped him over the course of his life. His father is the epitome of the high-class white male; which occupies the highest spot in our society. Therefore he had all the social benefits as well growing up which allowed him to obtain many of the leaderships spots he had throughout school. Max and I were very similar in our upbringing. The main difference was that Max had white privilege without the discrimination of also being Hispanic and the stereotypes that correspond, along with all the resources at his disposal. I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. White privilege is a way of conceptualizing racial inequalities that focuses as much on the advantages that white people accrue from society as on the disadvantages that of difference races experience. White privilege is a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people's conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country.
White privilege exists on an individual, cultural, and institutional level. Max and I almost had every similarity in the world in terms our upbringings. The two differences that I felt really set our upbringings apart were that I played sports and that he was fully white.