The Role of Ethnicity in the lives of Asian Americans

Modern society is a system that has its own clusters; each cluster is formed of people who different traits. Intelligence and money are the main powers that rule nowadays. People who only think of financial aspects of life often have a narrower mind, as gaining money gives a feeling of omnipotence. Those people tend to separate people due to different aspects, like ethnicity, race, gender, etc. However, people united by blood and one specific characteristic are often close and protect each representative of its group. The humans learned how to live their lives and follow the ideas of their ancestors, even if the ideology is new in the country where they live. Asian Americans are one of the most spread ethnicities in the United States. The aims of this paper are to examine notions of “ethnicity’, “pan-ethnicity” and how these notions influenced Asian Americans and how they influence my life. 

Every person at least once in life dealing with problems because of race or ethnicity. The problem occurs because of the ideas that grew in the mind of the offender. Parents teach their kids, and not always, the knowledge and the ideas that they share with their children are the ones that a kid really needs. This circle of the creation of the stereotypes and intolerance starts with people at first, each person is responsible for the words that he or she told to other people. Misunderstanding is the basis of all stereotypes and clashes among people. People do not know the difference between notions they label other people without knowing the real meaning of the words that they say or the ideas they spread. The right explanation and perception of the notion is the first step to an understanding of masses of stereotypes that follow people. 

Race and ethnicity are two notions that sometimes can confuse even an adult person. Since childhood, people were told to divide others depending on their color of skin or another characteristic of the body. This implies the existence of different “racial” groups, like white, black, Mongolian, etc (Taylor 48). However, the physical features of the body do not play the main role in the “race” term. People mostly define themselves based on these features; however, this attitude towards division is not accurate. Richard Lewontin a geneticist claims “races” are more similar than they think, as comparing physical traits of any two races they are 99 percent similar (Taylor, 49).  The notion “ethnicity” is relatively new, as it was firstly used in 1953. Nowadays ethnicity is a term that defines ethnic identities, like cooperation, same beliefs and same goals (Regmi 5). The term “race” is not scientific; as the difference in genes is not notable, it is only 0,005% (American). The term “ethnicity” is used to characterize a group of people that share the same nationality, religion, traditions. The only common thing that unites both these terms is that they define a group of people connected by different characteristics. 

“Pan-ethnicity” is another term that often confuses people. The events of 1980 connected with the University and Asian Americans were the focal point for the creation of the new term that describes a different group of people in the borders of the country. The first use of the prefix “pan” was connected with macro-nationalism (Espiritu 2). In the United States, there are masses of different groups, Asian Americans is a group of people formed by different national origins and divided into classes.  Despite all differences, that they had these people united in order to protect things that are close to their hearts, as ideas and beliefs of their nations. 

Asian Pacific Americans or Asian Pacific Islanders were the groups that did not interest scientists. However, the modern situation is better and this group gets more interest as it enlarges fast (Ancheta 12). In the discourse of history, people referred to APA using two terms, the first one is “forever foreigners” and the second one is “honorary whites” (Lo 116). The attitude of the scientists towards this group is not great, APA was perceived as another group of people that form the “melting pot”, and some people of science do not perceive them as an innate part of their country. The APA people do not really fit the established ways of lives and patterns of the USA. It is hard to define APA to one of the notions, as Asian Americans have the same cultural traits, while Pacific Islands Americans can have other ideas. This way APA is not an ethnic group, the term “race” is not appropriate to use with people. The notion “pan-ethic” is the one that suits Asian Americans and Pacific Islands Americans as it unites people of different ethnicities. 

The three terms above have their own peculiarities, differences and at first glance, they also have similarities. However, with a detailed examination, most similarities vanish away. The term “race” cannot be used towards people in modern society as the connotation of this word is rather negative than positive. Nowadays we have different words that can describe people. In my opinion, the separation of people by the color of their skin or physical features is not a behavior of people of the 21st century. This way the term “race” is not connected to any of the notions listed above. “Ethnicity”, “pan-ethnicity” and “ethnic identity” are the terms that have many common things, but at the same time, they have differences. The term ethnicity implies a group of people, who connected by different characteristics, as a culture, language, mentality, and others. The term “pan-ethnicity” confuses people as it has the prefix “pan”; however, “pan-ethnicity” is a term that unites different ethnicities in the borders of one country. The term “ethnic identity” is the one that relates to both terms “ethnicity” and “pan-ethnicity”. Scientists assume that ethnic identity is a psychological phenomenon; the discussions about the one definition and the understanding of this term are still present. Ethnic identity is the identity of the person with one of the ethnicities. This identity is defined by different characteristics, as the ethnic identity of the parents, place of birth, language and culture. 

Pan-ethnical countries have always had troubles with dealing with the problems of different ethnicities. That is the common problem of all countries around the world. The USA is notorious for its people; America has almost all representative of the World’s ethnicities. This situation harshens the development and support of all ethnic groups. People who emigrated had a mixed right to rule the country that became their homes or at least to vote. With the flow of the time, this tendency changed and Asian Americans became candidates of different elections, at the same level as American candidates (Nakanishi 123). 

Regarding my own history, as I have remote Asian roots, the attitude of people sometimes can be harsh, as not all people are free of stereotypes. The old ideas that claimed that people of other nationalities and ethnicities are bad for the country are still present in the minds of some people. The school does everything possible to teach their students to be tolerant; unfortunately, not all of them manage to do this. Modern people are concerned about the differences; however, the youngest generations try to get rid of the old ideas. Every person at least once in life was ashamed because of the ethnicity or other features of the body that differ from most people. I can slightly understand what it means to be Asian American or Asian Pacific American as the modern time gives more opportunities than had my ancestors.  

Modern society is trying to get rid of the division of people due to their differences; however, not all of them succeed in this activity. The terms of ethnicity and all related terms should be important for the person not for politics and other people, who look for a cause that could separate people and poison their mind against other representatives of the population. 

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