Racial Assimilation In America

The social construction of race or ethnicity in the United States was the basis of race prejudice and discrimination of the minorities in America. History indicates that the minority groups, who were known as people of color, suffered a lot in the hands of the whites. However, time has passed, and a new spirit of equality is almost in place. Several factors have led to the emergence of a new system in America that looks at individual rights rather than the dominant groups. As a matter of fact, America has evolved from the old system of racial discrimination and racial prejudice to an era of equality for all human beings irrespective of race, gender, religion, ethnic background, country of origin and all other aspects inherent in human beings. The key term here is assimilation. The assimilation of different cultures, social backgrounds, lifestyles, religions and all sorts of human differences, has overseen the differences that once formed the basis of hate, discrimination, and racial prejudice in America.
Assimilation takes different forms with different definitions but yet geared towards
the goal of uniting individuals. Structural assimilation, as defined by Gordon, refers to large-scale entrance into cliques, clubs, and institutions of host societies, on the primary group level (Gordon, 71). According to the Oxford dictionary, structural assimilation is the incorporation an ethnic group in society so that it has equal access to the significant associations and institutions. Structural assimilation, therefore, involves the host community accepting a particular ethnic or minority group as it is and by so doing it enables such minority group to easily and quickly adopt the new system in the host society. The result of such assimilation is a merge of cultures and the readiness to accept and value each other’s differences
Identificational assimilation, on the other hand, refers to the development of a sense of people’s bond based exclusively on the host society (Gordon,71) Identificational assimilation helps to explain how minority groups develop a sense of peoplehood, which is an important stage in the assimilation of U.S. immigrants. Structural assimilation, on the other hand, helps faster adaptation and adoption of minority groups by creating a sense of belonging. Assimilation is, therefore, a process in which persons of different ethnic and racial backgrounds come to interact while all the differences inherent in humans are put aside. Complete assimilation would mean that people stay together in harmony, and no separate social structures based on racial or ethnic concepts are retained. It is evident that the American history has moved far along, and it is still going far with assimilation in place. The country has faced out the unfairness that existed before where only the whites were the dominant group and the law only protected the white race. As pointed out by Gordon, “As social contact initiates an interaction, assimilation is the total perfect product.” (Gordon, 1). This, therefore, signifies that interaction is very crucial and has played a great deal in setting the new structure or rather a system that portrays America as a democratic country. Assimilation is essential for effective interaction. Interaction can take many forms that enable which leads to a termination of the past bitters history of America. Based on Gordon’s explanation, it is factual that the historical identification rooted on ethnic background is a thing of the past, and current historical events are derived from reality. Participation identity refers to the sense of belonging to a subculture

The concept of assimilation can be explained better by the melting pot theory. According to the theory, peoples from various cultures come to America and contribute aspects of their culture to create a new, unique American culture. The result is that the contributions of different cultures are indistinguishable from one another and are effectively "melted" together. The melting theory a significant role in American exceptionalism in that different cultures can be easily accommodated thus a continuous creation of a new exceptional culture that is found nowhere else. It allows for a dynamic culture that is not based on any one ethnic group and hence, contributes to ending of any particular cultural superiority. When different immigrant cultures, religions, end ethnic groups, are assimilated, the end product is some new hybrid social and cultural norms.
Another theory of assimilation referred to as the Anglo-Conformity theory, explains the tendency of immigrants to lose or do away with most o of their native cultural heritage and comply greatly to the core Anglo-Protestant culture of the United States (Gordon, 86). In Anglo-conformity, the minorities leave out much of their cultural values and adopt new, or rather integrate them with those of the dominant group. In the American history, the theory of Anglo-Conformity demanded a complete incorporation of ancestral cultures of the immigrants in favor of the behavior and values of the core Anglo-Saxon group (Gordon, 85). By so doing, this ensured that the culture and norms of the dominant group were preserved, and significant portions of culture and norms of the later immigrants were added the within the context of American citizenship in the American society (Gordon, 85). The theory facilitated assimilation as new cultures were accepted and readily absorbed by the dominant indigenous group without prejudice.

Cultural pluralism is yet another way in which assimilation is portrayed. In cultural pluralism, minority groups participate fully in the dominant society but still maintain their cultural differences. American democracy and its ideals encourage pluralism in that it allows people to express their cultures, beliefs and norms fully without interference as long as they conform with human rights. Assimilating plays a role here in that individual people can express their particular and dynamic cultures while they still follow the dominant culture of the country as a whole.
There are more new ways in which assimilation is being enhanced in America.
One of such ways is through sports. In the history of America, immigrants came in with the various sports of their culture which were unique (Steven, 94). The uniqueness of the sports encouraged the local peoples who in turn willingly adopted them. The attendance of such sports functions and integration within the American culture is one way that has increased interaction and eventually led to the quick assimilation of culture. Not only has the immigrants introduce new sports but also adopted a new way of American sports system which has resulted in a different sporting system than what was initially practiced. The mixing of sports culture has to a new and more modernized sports culture. The sports were firmly influenced by ethnic demographics such as spatial patterns, prejudice, and racism
(Steven,93).
Americas use of sports has contributed toward faster assimilation of immigrants. During sports, the use of voluntary institutions; sustained traditions pleasures and introduced newcomers to American games particularly in sporting of second generation immigrants whose parents had little interest in sports which became ardent fans as they sought Americanization. (Steven, 93) Recreational activities such as ethnic theater, music societies, saloon and religious festivals helped immigrants and their children adjust to American urban life (Steven, 94). Some sports like basketball and boxing had a major focal point around which those who lived in the slums or the zones of emergencies organized their social life and secured self- esteem (Steven-95).
Becoming Bicultural is another form of assimilation. It entails people of different cultures borrowing from one another’s culture what they consider right and integrating it within their individual cultures. The United States being a nation of immigrants and due to the recent massive immigration, there is a need to become bicultural, a hard and sometimes unpleasant process of navigating between ethnic cultures. Some former minority groups are now becoming the dominating group due to their high rate of immigration and high birth rate. The Latino and Asian populations form the largest portion of the leading groups that have changed the face of the nation and thus calling in for the need to become bicultural (Martica Bacallao and Paul R. Smokowski).
In a nutshell, assimilation entails two or more communities borrowing from one another and integrating their cultures, norms, beliefs, values, religions and other ethnic aspects to realize a common and unique culture that can be adopted by all ethnic groups. It is evident that through assimilation, the previously cultural based race prejudice and dissemination is on its way out from the history of America.