Immigration and Ethnic Relations in Asian and Hispanic/Latino Americans

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Immigration and Ethnic Relations in Asian and Hispanic/Latino Americans

The increase in immigration of Latinos, Hispanics and Asians into America has brought a new dimension in the white and non-white topic. According to the readings, the topic is no longer restricted to be white or non-white. Other perspectives such as being black or non-black, an immigrant or citizen by birth, amongst other perspectives have attracted attention to the social world. In my opinion, this continued immigration will continue to shift the social and ethnical arena of America from being a bi-racial divide (black or white) to being a multi racial hierarchy.

As the readings portray, for many years, it has been about the black-white color line. However, currently, with the increase of the Asians and Hispanic/Latino immigration, other races are slowly increasing in population. In California, persons with Hispanic or Latino origins contributed to 37.6 percent of the population. Those who were of Asian origin contributed to 13 percent of the population. This means that there are states that are more influenced by the immigration process and others. It is therefore significant to be prepared for such changes instead of sticking to the old changes of bi-racial lines (Tsuda, 2011).

The chances for bi-racial marriages taking place today are higher that they were in the 20^th century. In my opinion, the chances of a white marrying a black person today is almost equal to a white man marrying a Hispanic or a Latino especially in such a multi-racial state as California. In a few more years to come, the pure white ethnicity will be much lower than it already is and maybe in some far future, the Whites will integrate with the Hispanics, Asians, Latinos and Blacks just as the way the Red Indians integrated with the Whites. America will be a multiracial nation.

According to the readings, the nation’s ethnicity was revolutionized since the implementation of the HartCeller Act. National origin quotas were eliminated and immigrants were welcome to the United States. In response to this, the hard economic times and the search for a better life will continue to influence the Hispanic and Latino immigration process into America. In a documentary about the work life of the Hispanic and Latino immigrants, most of the immigrants decided to come to the United States in such of greener pastures. Some came more than twenty years ago. They then settled in the United States and started families. Their children then became American citizens by birth. As the children grow up, they have a mixture of Hispanic/ Latino ethnicity and the American ethnicity. When the children become adults, they might marry Americans (whites), Hispanics, Latinos or Asians. Eventually, a nation of mixed origins will be brought about (Tsuda, 2011).

One thing I have noted is that culture and ethnicity mostly work hand in hand. This means that cultures from ethnic groups influence different groups by either overcoming each other or blending with each other. This means that the immigrants can influence the white American culture; they can be influenced by the American culture or blend in with the American culture. Most of the writers agree that the ethnicity of the Americans will not be as it currently is in the next decade. The country will be viewed in terms of being multi-racial and not bi-racial as it was before. With California topping with the number of Hispanic/Latino and Asian immigrants, other states are also recording an increase in the population of this group of people.

The government or those interested in the heritage of the diverse ethnic groups in the United States should play a major role in making sure that this heritage is not done away with. As the immigrants continue to increase, America’s ethnicity and other things are bound to be forgotten or extricated. The better option will be to find a way of accommodating this change such as teaching Latino and Spanish in schools in order to accommodate as many ethnicities as there are.

Reference

Tsuda, T., (2011). Immigration and Ethnic Relations in the U.S. San Diego, CA: Cognella Academic Publishing, University Readers