The New Americans

Name:
Institution:
Course:
Instructor:
Date of submission:
The new Americans.
America as a country and as society has undergone a long journey to become what it is today. There has been an immense transition between the old and the new to define new America. American has been under study as various scholars try to outline how the community has been transformed. The integration of varieties of cultures within then nations is attributed to be the biggest driving factor of change. This paper analyses the various aspects of the American society, the comparison between the past and the present as discussed by Ronald Takaki and Ruben Martinez.
Labor exploitation and legalized racial discriminations role in the building of America.Ronald Takaki has outlined various aspects of the American society in his article “A different mirror.” The following is brief analysis of his sentiments;
African Americans
To begin with, the African American is attributed to have come to the country as slaves. They were considered different from the white laborers and were perceive to be some sort of indentured servants (Takaki, 1993, 6). Furthermore, slavery was blooming business for many who had the chance of shipping people slaves from Africa to America. Africans remained a degraded lot and unpaid laborers in addition to the dehumanization they faced as slaves (Takaki, 1993, 6). However, after the civil war, President Lincoln acknowledged the sacrifices and the importance of the black people in the civil war. This prompted the inclusion of the black people to serve in the army as an appreciation for their effort in the war.
Irish Americans
The Irish arrived in America involuntarily as captives of war. This group of people was indentured as slaves. Other Irish group came as they escaped the potato famine. These immigrants ended up being construction workers, maids and factory workers as they struggled to make ends meet (Takaki, 1993, 8). Securing manual labor was triggered by the fact that most of them who settled on English farms were evicted to create land for grazing. Their humiliation continued due to the fact that they came from a Catholic group and settled in a fiercely protestant society. However, the law came to their rescue since the law only favored the whites. For example, the 1970 enactment on naturalization reserved citizenship for whites (Takaki, 1993, 6).
Chinese Americans
The Chinese American faced a big challenge in the 18th century in the form of racism. For example, a law was enacted which was referred to as the “Chinese Exclusion Act” that specifically excluded their entry to the nation as immigrants (Takaki, 1993, 7). In 1870 Chinese immigrant were brought to Massachusetts to break an Irish immigrant strike. This created an opportunity for them to be recruited to discipline the newly freed blacks. They did menial jobs since they were considered immigrant with lesser rights.
Japanese Americans
On the other hand the Japanese were lured to America by propaganda of high wages as plantation laborers in comparison to what they earned in their country. However, this was not the case since plantation owners adopted trickery techniques to convince them to work in their plantations (Takaki, 1993, 7). Worse still they were supposed to work under harsh conditions. The pay was actually better but they were supposed to work as long as 12 hours. However, the Japanese community faced major challenges. For instance, they were exposed to unsanitary conditions and lived in crowded spaces. Notably the worst problem was that they endured discrimination as immigrants. Furthermore, the plantation owners passed a resolution that restricted skilled positions to American citizens (Takaki, 1993, 7). This was just a ploy to bar the Japanese from rising to any position other than field hands and mill laborers. Further humiliation was experienced during ...