Racial And Ethnic Relations. Essay, Research Paper
Racial and
Ethnic
Relations.
A Nation of Immigrants: An Overview of the
Economic and Political Conditions of Selected Racial and Ethnic Groups.
The North American economic development has seen several stages of
development. The first stage of economic development was a
plantation-slave economy mixed with mercantilism, the second stage of
development was a competitive industrial economy, and the stage third
stage of economic development is multinational capitalism.
Economic institution and related governmental actions have formed the
tides of migration and the resulting patterns of immigrant adjustment.
The original groups of inhabitants in North America were Native
Americans. These Native people lost much of their land and many of their
lives to the vicious European invasions.
Many groups of immigrants came to America, yet each group had left
their native country for various reasons and under various
circumstances. Some immigrant groups entered America as slaves, others
came to work at low paying labor jobs, and some came as entrepreneurs.
These various groups were discriminated against at varying level,
depending on the resources the group brought with them. Those immigrants
who made the journey to America on their own freewill with economic
resources found that it was much easier to find good jobs than those
immigrants with less than such freewill and resources. Small business
opportunities unfortunately were not available for most immigrants.
The waves of immigrant migration to the North America are highlighted
in phases. With phase one came English colonists from the 1600 s to the
1800 s. The English created colonies and forced land from the native
people. The English also established a form of capitalism. During this
same time Africans were seized from their native lands and were shipped
to America involuntarily in the form of property, to be used as slave
labor. Also, phase one brought an era in which Irish Catholics
immigrated to America, driven from their native land from the 1830 s to
the 1860 s, due to famine, oppression, and poor living conditions. These
Irish immigrants were able to obtain low wage jobs. Phase two began with
the immigration of Chinese people from the 1850 s to the 1870 s; these
people came due to recruitment efforts by the United States and in hope
of obtaining better living conditions. The Chinese became employed
mostly in construction, and menial service jobs. The Italians arrived
between the 1880 s and the 1910 s. The Italian people were recruited for
construction and other related low wage labor jobs. The Japanese
immigrants came to live in Western America after migrating from their
land to Hawaii from the 1880 s to the 1900 s. The Japanese people had
also been recruited as laborers.
The third phase of immigration to the United States began with the
Mexican people from the 1910 s to the 1990 s, due to labor shortages
from Europe and Asia. The Puerto Rican people started arriving in the
1940 s and continue to arrive into the 1990 s. These people accessed
labor jobs in farms and jobs in blue-collar occupations. Recent Asian
and Caribbean groups started arriving in the 1960 s to the 1990 s,
mostly as political refuges, and also for political reasons.
Commercial capitalism and the slave society were the effect of the East
Coast colonial expansion of English land. The early economy was derived
of a combination of enterprises under English rule and independent
entrepreneurs. Included in this system was Slave plantations. The goal
of English colonial settlement was to secure raw goods and markets for
English products. In England merchants invested in the colonial
industries. Other people from Europe began to immigrate into the
colonies with the hope of becoming small farmers. In the colonies there
were two types of major production, small farms, and plantations and
merchants.
From the 1600 s to the mid 1800 s African people were used for slave
labor in colonial plantations. Around the time of 1860 there were as
many as 3.9 million slaves in the united States due to a strong demand
for their labor.
The Southerners in the United States had held nearly all political and
economic power in the government until the end of the civil war, which
granted the Northern Industrialists the majority of governmental power
in the United States.
In the Northern Industrial society and in small farms immigrants from
Ireland, Germany and Scandinavia were among those in the labor force.
These Europeans had been recruited from their countries, and they had
also left for other reasons such as famine, political and economic
problems and the hope of a better life. The immigration of Europeans
laid the foundation of patterns of racial conflict.
The African people that were now free from slavery began working as low
wage laborers for entrepreneurs. In some cases African Americans were
used as strikebreakers, which raised racial pressure even more.
Eventually African workers began losing their jobs to arriving
immigrants from Europe. The English had oppressed the Irish people in
their native land but after a few generations in America were considered
part of the white dominant race.
Western expansion brought the loss of many Native and Mexican peoples
land, not to mention the horrendous loss of lives. The white people felt
that that these races should be subordinates to them. The Mexican people
did not altogether migrate to the United States their land was brought
into the United States as a result of the victory over Mexico in the
Mexican-American war.
After the civil war the Industrial capitalistic economy bloomed, large
enterprises began to take over the major economy. As industrialism grew
Asian workers were recruited for labor from China and Japan. The United
States victory in The Spanish-American war had granted the United States
annexation Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba. Many people from
these countries immigrated into the United States mainland.
The actions that were taken by the government had an influence on
racial and ethnic relations. One action that effected racial and ethnic
relations was the Homestead Act, which granted land to many people but
made it difficult for African Americans to get such land. For the most
part, African families were not given the opportunity built up their
wealth. The newly rebuilt South had a need for low wage workers and
mostly the now free slaves performed these jobs. This, in effect, kept
the African Americans in the South where it was difficult if not
impossible for them to gain wealth.
The moving of African Americans to the cities is similar to that of the
transition of European immigrants. Eventually the African people should
be able to move up on an economic level, as did the European settlers.
This argument is challenged because Europeans had, had greater group
mobility. Among the most mobile groups are the Jewish people. The
African Americans that had moved to the North were losing their jobs to
the recent arriving European immigrants. African American migrants were
subject to much more racial discrimination than their white European
counterparts. Also, during this time racial tensions were increasing due
to economic competition between European and African groups, which led
to hostility and discrimination toward the African Americans from the
European Americans.
Modern Mexican immigrants came after WWI and immense industrialization
had brought a decrease in the number of laborers available. Mexican
workers migrated to the United States to fulfill these new labor needs.
International corporations have been the major influence on U.S.
politics and the economy since the 1920 s. When the depression hit
African and Latino Americans struggled because white people took over
many of the low wage jobs.
After WWII the United States began to dominate the world economy, for
many decades. During this time many white Americans moved to the suburbs
of major cities and traveled to the city for employment, while most of
the subordinates lived in the inner city. This separated the two groups
and brought them further apart from each other.
Until the 1960 s discriminatory quotas against Asians had limited the
number Asian immigrants. When the quotas were lifted the United States
received many new Asian immigrants from China, Korea, the Philippines,
and Vietnam. These Asians generally migrated to the United States in
hope for better opportunities.
Many immigrants from Cuba arrived after Fidel Castro came to power.
Most of the Cubans were considered political refuges and were accepted
by the U.S. government. During this time many Haitian refugees came to
the United States, but were treated differently than the Cuban refugees
because the Cubans had been fleeing a communist government, because of
the U.S. opposition to communism.
Many groups of immigrants still enter the United States for the same
reasons that Europeans and other groups entered the United States. Among
the new immigrants Mexicans make up a large portion of undocumented
immigrants.
The decline of European immigrants to the U.S. has brought an increase
in Asian and Latino immigration. Native-born Americans have considered
these new immigrants a problem and therefore immigration restrictions
have been placed on these groups. The Latino and Asian population is
steady growing throughout the United States and in some areas the
majority of the population is or soon will be made up of people of
color. As these people grow in population they will press for equal
treatment and political, social, and economic opportunities.
This introduction has examined the economic and political ways in which
people have immigrated to the United States and how that immigration has
been adjusted. It has been suggested that several factors effect a
group s economic and political success including time of arrival and the
amount of resources brought with them upon migration. A greater
understanding to the rivers of migrations into the United States
requires analysis of political and economic aspects as well as group
mobility. The government and it s subsequent actions have shaped the way
in which migration has occurred and also has shaped the ethnic and
racial relations between groups, and has also effected the distinct
development of cultures.
Analysis, problems, and Remedies.
After analysis it is my belief that the modern problems concerning
racial and ethnic groups do stem from the authors reasons, such as
political and economic conditions, time of arrival and reason for
migration. I feel that there is a stigma that has resulted from these
past experiences that people of color are inferior to the white race. I
feel that the relations between different ethnic groups have been very
poor in the past and do still remain poor in many areas. I also feel
though, that it is important to see how far ethnic relations have
positively improved in modern America. I for see that an egalitarian
society is in the near future for the United States, but it will not
happen “over night” and it will take a lot of work on the part of modern
American society. I feel that the way, in which an egalitarian society
will become a reality in America, is through education of all Americans
about all other Americans, interaction between all ethnicitiys in a
positive atmosphere, and finally the removal of all stereotypes,
stigmas, oppression, discrimination, and labels. With this the people of
America can share this great land in peace and with a degree of harmony.