To truly understand the race and ethnicity issues you must
first define it. The traditional definition of race and ethnicity is related to
biological and sociological factors respectively. Race refers to a person's
physical characteristics, such as bone structure and skin, hair, or eye color.
Ethnicity, however, refers to cultural factors, including nationality, regional
culture, ancestry, and language. An example of race is brown, white, or black skin,
while an example of ethnicity is German or Spanish
Race and ethnicity has been an underlying issue in the
United States that many people tend to ignore it or even pretend no problem exists.
Let’s take a look at a few examples of some race and ethnicity issues that we
have seen in the past 15 years. An
obvious one are the 9/11 Attacks and the resultant War on Terrorism. On that fateful
day, lives of Americans from all racial/ethnic backgrounds were literally
changed overnight, not the least of whom were and are Arab and Muslim
Americans, who have to balance their dual identities of being both Americans
while also frequently being seen as “enemies in our own backyards.”
Another choice would have been the election of Barack
Obama as the U.S.’s first non-White President. His campaign and eventual
victory were certainly very historical moments in the racial/ethnic landscape
of American society. For good and for bad, they further brought many underlying
racial issues to the surface of American society and resulted in both more
cohesion and divisions across racial/ethnic lines.
A third good choice could be the emergence of
Unauthorized Immigration as a divisive, an obvious issue within American
society. As the need for cheap labor increased, so did the numbers of
immigrants from all over the world but particularly from Mexico and Central
America arriving in the U.S. to fill that need. In the process, their presence
led to numerous and ongoing debates and conflicts over whether their presence
is good and bad for the country.
So while there have been many notable events in this past 15
years they have affected racial/ethnic relations, from a sociological point of
view, they are based on the demographic, political, economic, and cultural
effects of globalization and how such effects are perceived to be a threat to
the institutional power and hegemony of the U.S. White majority population.
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