Essay Sample on Cultural Diversity: Benefits, Challenges, and Communication Tools

Introduction

Migration, slavery and intermarriages created a mass of cultures within the United States. There were those cultures that were viewed mainstream, and there were others that were considered as marginalized to specific groups of people. While this pool of cultures could prove beneficial to various aspects of the American economy, as well its social and political dimension. Cultural differences, coupled up with globalization necessitated for the formulation of communication tools as well as the modification of products to suit the different needs of these cultures. However, the existence of diverse cultures resulted in cultural racism, a term that has gradually evolved from the general issue of racism.

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Cultural racism combines two crucial factors; racism and culture. Racism has been widely explored in different settings, scenarios and circumstances as the act of discrimination or prejudice against people from a race that is considered inferior. Culture, on the other hand, is a combination of one's beliefs, traditions, and way of doing things that identifies them to a particular group of people. Cultural racism, therefore, is the act of creating and hence viewing a specific culture as one that is superior and mainstream while disregarding the others as inferior, undeserving of being a part of a society and misplaced (Scott 4). At the beginning, racism was primarily manufactured from the biological and religious aspects of the discriminated individuals. For instance, the African Americans were discriminated due to their skin color, and in some cases, they were viewed inferior because they are religiously inclined to be so. Their suffering was hence viewed as the will of God. However, cultural racism brings forth the physical aspects of racism, ranging from the language, social customs, aesthetic values, as well as moral practices and beliefs.

Cultural racism is rampant, so rampant in fact that many individuals do not even notice it exists. Many cultures have been conjured in the white-man preferences and beliefs, that they have come to be accepted as the mainstream culture. Beauty, art, fashion, religion, holidays and many other cultural aspects have been primarily constructed via the non-Hispanic whites of the United States of America. Cultural racism is hence closely linked to white supremacy (Jones, 2018). A majority if not all holidays, for instance, are white holidays, while the cultures of the other minority groups have been left out. It is this aspect of cultural racism that makes the character Dre Johnson (Anthony Anderson) of the ABC series Blackish (season four episode one) to wonder at the celebrations of Christopher Columbus day, while no one ever celebrates the 19th of June, or what he termed as 'Juneteenth' when the African Americans gained their independence (Anderson and Barris, 00:17:50-00:19:00). Americans celebrate the first of July to celebrate their independence, and therefore, Juneteenth should be granted a similar priority. However, the first of July has been made a mainstream celebration, that even the African Americans celebrate yet it has no cultural value to them.

The implications of cultural racism have been detrimental to the welfare, rights and representation of the minority groups. People have slowly disregarded crucial aspects of others' lives, pointing out at the weakness of their culture. For instance, instead of to acknowledging the numerous years of unpaid labor as the cause of poverty for the African Americans, many points at their culture as one that does not value education and hard work (Jones, 2018). Many cultures are being lost due to the ethnocentric nature of American culture. What makes this even worse is that this sidelining is passed from generation to another, and hence a gradual yet detrimental effect on minority cultures.

Conclusion

Racism is an issue that has been present in the United States for quite a long time. Over the years, it has grown to encompass various domains within the American societies. Cultural racism is among these domains, and it is a form of prejudice that presents one culture as superior to others. This has hence led to the existence of a monoculture that has been presented as mainstream while the others slowly face an extinction.

Works Cited

Anderson A. and Barris K. black-ish. Season four episode 1. America Broadcasting Company. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy0ikqpoYNU

Jones D. The Many Types of Racism: 5 Terms to Know. Accessed on June 12, 2019. http://www.deettajones.com/many-types-of-racism-5-terms-know/

Scott C. L. A Discussion of Individual, Institutional, and Cultural Racism, with Implications for HRD. 2007. Pp. 1-8. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED504856.pdf