RACE / ETHNICITY

Race / Ethnicity

Race / Ethnicity

Introduction

The theme I chose for my paper was race/ethnicity. For the literary works, I will compare and contrast “What It's like to be a Black Girl” by Patricia Smith (an African- American) and “Child of the Americas” by Aurora Levin Morales (a Latino). They were both born in America, which is a noteworthy fact because Blacks and other minorities in the U.S. experienced extreme racism and prejudice compared to their peers in other countries (Burrell, 2010). The poems tell how two young ladies, from different cultures, view themselves with conflicting beliefs. These two poems are important because they deal with racism and discrimination issues which occurred prior to the Civil Rights Era and still exist today. Although, each of them experienced discrimination their perceptions, its effects, and how they coped were very different.

Discussion

In order to understand racism and its effects on minorities, we must first understand what race/racism, prejudice, discrimination and ethnicity are since many people use these interchangeably to mean the same thing. Prejudice is an attitude of prejudging someone that not based on reason or experience; discrimination is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex. Ethnicity (also ethnic group) is a group of people, whose members identify with each other, through a common: heritage, language, and/or an ideology that stresses ancestry (Carroll, 2011). Why is all of this important? It is important because many minorities faced with these issues daily. Minorities considered the subordinate group and can be found in all societies. Minorities share five characteristics including unequal treatment, distinguishing physical or cultural traits, involuntary membership, awareness of being a subordinate, and in-group marriage; being a minority has nothing to do with being the majority in a society. All of these affect how others will perceive you, so they affect the treatment of individuals, shown in the two poems that I chose.

Although literary works may be similar, to theme or topic, they are far from written the same way. The literary pieces discussed are all just as different as they are similar. Each work written differently conveys different emotions and reactions and expresses a different level of understanding. Point of view differs within each piece and with the difference it makes the reader's perception of the story different. For example, Morales writes her piece using the first person point of view. It gives the reader a personal insight to what the writer feels and trying to express. Third person point of view leaves the readers mind open to visualization of many different things.

There are many stories out in the world that touch base with issues such as racism, segregation, and discrimination. Whether in first person or third person; whether fact or fiction, these stories and poems all have share similar meaning and theme. Writers of racial themes put across the pain and chaos that these difference cause. Many people fail to see the pain behind things such as ...