Think about the last time you filled out an application that asked you to specify your ethnic background. It should be noted: Race and ethnicity are not exchangeable terms.
Mekita Rivas | Posted: Saturday, July 4, 2009 12:00 am
Think about the last time you filled out an application that asked you to specify your ethnic background.
It should be noted: Race and ethnicity are not exchangeable terms.
The former refers to the distinguishable physical differences between the three "original" races: Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid. Of course, such racial apportionment is obviously outdated and, furthermore, hardly founded.
According to a 2001 CNN health report, Georgia Dunston, a microbiologist and acting director of Howard University's National Human Genome Center, said it wasn't scientifically accurate to group people by race. She said the genome project shows that people of all races have most DNA in common.
"We share 99 percent. I think that's good evidence that we are pretty much the same," she said. "Genetics show us that humankind is essentially one large family."
If race refers to the physical, ethnicity (in the most basic sense) refers to the emotional.
One's ethnicity is rooted in endless emotion because culture and tradition are emotional things. Whether it's the romanticism of a Mexican mariachi serenade, the joy of an Italian grape squashing or the tragedy of a Spanish bullfight, emotion and ethnicity are virtually one.
I've never met anyone who wasn't proud of his or her ethnic background. The ability to claim an entire culture - or, if you're lucky, multiple cultures - is an extraordinary privilege. After all, it is our differences that, somehow, always remind us how similar we are.
Everyone has heard the term "melting pot" used to describe America. It is a description most Americans embrace because it paints an accepting picture of this country: her proverbial arms spread out, smiling, ready to welcome others in their pursuit of the American dream, etc.
Undoubtedly one of the most enduring metaphors in existence, the "melting pot" was coined by the Jewish playwright Israel Zangwill. According to the PBS documentary "The First Measured Century," Zangwill's play portrayed America as "a crucible" to melt the 50 barbarian tribes of Europe into a metal from which God could cast Americans.
Since the play's success in 1908, the metaphorical depth and power behind Zangwill's melting pot has been lost, the term subjected to mean nothing more than a melting pot of stew or, perhaps even less literary, fondue.
In reality, an actual melting pot is used to melt multiple metals at a high temperature. They come together as a new compound that is stronger than the original metals were on their own.
As such, the American melting pot is meant to show how multiple people fuse into a newer, greater blend in this powerful democracy. In theory, many different ethnic groups work to create a united country and give up ties to their individual ethnic groups.
Such ties, however, are just as alive now as they were when the term was coined over a century ago.
From African-American to Irish-American to Mexican-American, while we're all living in the same America, we're all bent on specifying the different types of Americans we are.
If sharing 99 percent of the same DNA exemplifies our similarity and remaining proud of our own heritages embodies our individuality, why the hyphen? What purpose does it serve a country whose sole purpose is to be the United States to support the separated, hyphenated classification of its citizens?
Is it a matter of pride? It shouldn't be - for in a melting pot, the contents are appreciative of their respective cultures, but understand that working for the betterment of the new (American) culture takes precedence.
Is it a matter of superiority? No, it shouldn't be that either - for in a melting pot, all of the contents are equal.
A conversation topic for your Fourth of July barbecue: Is America a true melting pot, or nothing more than a metal scrap yard?
When I think about the last application I filled out, I'm frustrated. I was born in Lincoln, Neb., which makes me an American. I shouldn't have to check the "Mexican" and "Pacific Islander" boxes on an employment application, because my cultural ancestry doesn't indicate anything about my work ethic or employee potential.
There should only be two boxes to choose from: "American" and "Other."
Mekita Rivas is a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.