Multiculturalism- Makes or Mars California

It is very common to hear Californians using the word “multicultural” to describe the Golden State. California is the state of multiculturalism; the melting pot where the hearts of individual ethnical traditions meet. Different ethnical groups come try to find a place in this land of hope, and everyone come here to share their original cultures or even attempt to infiltrate the American culture with their own, and to seize every available opportunity to realize their ambitions. Under such social atmosphere that applauds diversity, people worldwide arrive California to rewrite their lives without sacrificing or abandoning their roots. The long history of cultural mingling has allowed California to develop its unique culture of mixed traditions.

Multiculturalism is a popular theme discussed in various articles, novels and movies. These arts and literature analyze the impacts of foreign cultures on America, and employ different ways to depict California from the perspective of immigrants. In the pieces examined in class, the writers recorded the numerous views of Americans to multiculturalism and how Americans respond to such unique characteristic. Furthermore, they offered their opinion to the different cultures, how they interact with one another to clarify doubts, and explain the misconception of Californian multiculturalism. More and more people understand the origins of social issues through the interaction between the works of art, and prevent conflicts by appreciating and respecting the differences in each other’s culture.

The writers used metaphors to present the problems arising from multiculturalism, and these subtle suggestions can allow space for readers to decipher the meaning of multiculturalism through their understanding. In the novel “American Son”, the author inserted different analogies to symbolize the facets of America. The family represents California; Tomas represents the whites with privileges in society; Gabe represents the minorities, especially the Asian Americans, who are shy and unwilling to express their inner thoughts easily. She also represents people who are trying to strive for a social status, showing how the whites are more prestigious than other races, especially Asians.

Metaphors can also be found in the movie “Crash” to suggest the influences of multiculturalism—the title is already a representation of the current situation. The name “Crash“ can represent collision and the consequence of the assimilation of cultures. It can create visual impressions within readers to conceptualize the integration of cultures. The last scene of the movie concluded the story with the car crashing and the camera zooming out, recording a fight that resulted from the accident. It implies that if multiculturalism does not develop peacefully, it will create endless racial conflicts. The movie also used symbolic objects to represent various messages, for instance, guns stands for authorities and power. It implicates that different races want to fight for the power in California, or even in America.

Californians doubted the possibilities of multiculturalism; they do not have the faith to understand the value of various cultures. Through different media, the pieces try to clarify each other’s doubts. Professor Gregory Jay’s article “What is Multiculturalism” questions whether America is the melting pot of cultures and responded in reference to other artistic works. "America's traditional conception of itself as a " melting pot" of diverse peoples joined in a common New World culture has been challenged by those multiculturalists who consider the " melting pot " metaphor a cover for oppressive assimilation". Meanwhile, the movie “Crash” hints a solution to the professor’s uncertainty. Based on different scenes, audience are able to notice different kinds of conflict between races, and how various cultures were not well assimilated in 2004. The movie answers the question by providing some direct examples, which are authentic and persuasive.

The pieces also projected the serious problems led by misunderstandings between different races. In the play “Bordertown” in “Culture Crash of America”, the Militia Man stereotypes two Mexican-American, and uses different method to confirm the two Mexican American’s identity at the border of California and Mexico. The Malitia Man did not believe them even when they were able to show their identities and pass all the verbal tests. The movie “Crash” recorded the interaction and conflict between people of different races. There was a scene about a white American local district attorney Rick Cabot and his wife Jean going to retrieve their car. On the way, Jean stared at the two African-American youngsters Peter and Anthony, and sped up. After the two African-American saw how they reacted, they decided to reveal the guns and robbed the car. This scene showed how one race is being stereotyped by another; each party had their own stereotypes about the other, and therefore behaved in certain ways. Some races are always being assumed as something which is not necessary true; people have always established false correlations between improper behavior with certain ethnicities. However, as mentioned in the article ”What is Multiculturalism” by Professor Jay, ”’race’ has no significant meaning as a way of categorizing human differences“. This proves that there is no correlation between the behavior and skin colors. The interaction between two pieces of work shows different opinions to the unique culture of America.

Some races try to dominate multicultural California. They try to exert their own characteristics over other races. However, among different ethnicities, white Americans have effortlessly done so without much work. “As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantages, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantages.” (McIntosh). In articles, movie or even in reality, the whites are always considered as a focal point; their actions are often discussed in relationship with those of other races such as Asian, Mexican, and African. Most of the works examined in class suggested bias in favor of the whites; people try to portray the social status of the whites as considerably higher than that of other races. In some cases, white people try to create an unrealistic image to the public that they perceive everybody in the same perspective, however, they do not act accordingly as they think. The different scenes in “Crash” about the young police officer can prove this. In the beginning, officer Tom Hanson complained to his boss that his partner John Ryan committed sexual harassment to an African American woman Christine when they pull-over the car Christine was in. He was eventually approved to work alone, and he considered himself good and different because he did not discriminate. However, in a later scene, he offered an African American a ride, and when the youngster rummaged through his pocket, Hanson immediately assumed that the youngster was carrying a gun and killed him in panic. Despite his denial, he also stereotyped African American as being violent and dangerous.

Respect is the most crucial element that can pull different cultures closer together. The first play “Bordertown” in “Culture Clash of America" commissioned by San Diego Repertory Theatre proved that people always stereotype others by their skin color. In the conversation between the two Mexicans and the Militia, the Mexicans keep claiming themselves as Americans not Mexicans even if the Militia Man keep assuming that they were Mexicans. This is disrespectful how the Militia Man keep assuming a certain identity for others while they had already clarify who they were. Another scene in “Crash” also presented the same idea. An African youngster Anthony and his friend Peter tried to rob Cameron’s car. When Cameron, who was also an African American, tried to hit Peter, Peter called Cameron “You stupid nigger”, which was extremely disrespectful to Cameron. After being pull over by the LAPD, Cameron said to Anthony “You embarrassed me. You embarrassed yourself”. This shows that Anthony did not only discriminated Cameron, but also himself and his own race. If even African America themselves discriminate one another, it is hard for others not to stereotype them, and even harder for other races to show mutual respect towards them.

Racial conflicts are usually shown in different literature works. However, it does not mean that different cultures cannot fuse well. The movies “Crash” and novel “American Son” both show some scenes that reflected the contradicting psychologies of American. In “Crash”, local district attorney Rick Cabot and his wife Jean were being robbed by African American, and this scene showed how one race is being stereotyped by another. However, Cabot’s assistant turned out to be African American as well. This created a contrast with what happened earlier on.. Moreover, the attorney kept murmuring in the office about the African American youngsters in front of her assistant, and attacking her race. This is quite ironic that he kept blaming the African American when he was assisted by one of them. In addition, in “American Son”, Thomas, a mixed white Pilipino who dressed like a Mexican, trained guard dog in German and sold them to the rich and famous. This was rather special for Tomas to act like that, however, it actually represents the process of multiculturalism. It shows how Tomas has received the influences from different culture.

Though multiculturalism has stirred up certain problems, it has also successfully help cultures fuse in some aspect. Despite the many negative incidents discussed above, different cultures did fuse well in some extends. For instance, in “Crash”, different races work together in the police department in Los Angles. This shows how different races can cooperate for the same goal. A similar situation can be seen in the article “Integrated City” which said: “Two of every ten babies in Sacramento is multiracial, an increase of more than 40% since 1982.“ This suggested that there is an increasing number of mixed children born, children like Tomas and Gabe in the novel “American Son”. This trend can be explained as an increasing popular that accepts people from other races, or even marry them and start a family with mixed cultures. Different cultures have started to fuse in a good way the enriches the American culture.

Multiculturalism can be beneficial by creating more diversity in California. In the article “Integrated City”, it stated: ”In the 2000 US Census, 24 in 1000 people said they were multiracial (it is the first time Census pollers asked the question). It is often said with pride.“ This shows that people is not ashamed to be multiracial. The government wants to make good use of the influence brought about by the various cultures. It can also be understood that people are proud to be multiracial. Being physically diverse has indirectly guided them to be more receptive and understanding to different cultures, since they themselves embody more than one race. They can effectively interact with others with different ethnical background. It seems that they can appreciate others’ culture or even language, which can help them to broaden their horizons and extend their social networking.

Interactions between different races do not have to be hindered by cultural differences. Multiculturalism can work well in California. In the ending of “Crash”, there was a very touching and meaningful scene that created a contrast between the issues covered in earlier parts of the movie. Jean, the wife of the local district attorney, fell from the stairs, and was rescue by her house servant. Her changed attitude towards the servant shows that multiculturalism is possible in California, and the hug between them represents care, friend and love. These are powerful enough to break the barriers of different races, and to mark a stage of progression of multiculturalism. It is not easy for us to accept things that are foreign or even contradictory to we used to know. Nevertheless, each of the cultures now prevalent has accumulated the wisdom of our forefathers, and each of them contains knowledge that is valuable to the improvement of humanity. Multiculturalism is not an easy task, but it will certainly be the future trend when we try to establish the global village in which people of all races will have to accept one another.

The extensive readings and movie watching provided adequate information for us to understand multicultural California through different sources. They offer more insights to the environments we live in. They explain some of our common but incorrect actions in life: why we treat some race the way we did. They also suggest hints and questions for everyone to think about. If we have the chance to understand the root of these issues, we can find methods to deal with the conflicts between different cultures, and avoid the collision between races, and to fuse together the advantages of each culture. This can eventually bring out the best from every culture, and to realize the true meaning of multiculturalism. The multiple articles, novels and movies analyzed for this assignment might not have displayed a healthy or desirable side of multiculturalism, nevertheless, they have given us much room to interpret the writers’ messages. All growths and progressions in human history have been painful, but it is only through these difficulties that we can learn and improve.

Reflection 

This is the last outclass essay I wrote for the English class 1B. I think it is quite challenging. As all the projects and final papers are due in the last two weeks, they reduced the preparation time of writing this essay. I think this essay is not as good as the second essay that I wrote out of class. I think this essay can include more depth on the analyzing the materials, explain them with more detailed analysis. I should also use more quotes to support my ideas, which makes my ideas more persuasive.
There is something I think I have improved is the sentence structure, I think I have increase the variety of the sentence I composed in my last out-class essay. However, I think I should put more effort on proofreading, not only on the grammars, but also on checking the logic and the flow of the whole essay.

Overall, I am quite disappointed on this essay that it is not written as good as I had expected. I feel sorry that I cannot make a good ending on the last out-class essay.