U.S.'s Racism: From 1600s to Now - The Land of the Unfree? - Essay Sample

Introduction

The United States is composed of a multitude of varying ethnic cultures and backgrounds. It has always been referred to as "the Land of the Free" that has helped in making the U.S. more appealing to people who have had to look for refuge from their homelands at times of war and other aggressive situations. Regrettably, the people who have had to look for refuge in the United States have not for all time been welcome openly. The U.S. as a nation is just a racist. During the 1600s, the United States exploited African Americans as slaves to fundamentally do their dirty work. They were not allowed to own anything and even learning to write or read. They had no rights as human beings since they were degraded and made to be nothing. However, now all that has changed. The Native Americans were also ragged out from their land and slaughtered for totally no reason. At times of World War II, the United States was irritated by Japanese Americans and jailed them when they were caught in their land. The present essay is not about hatred and racism, but it will focus on a minority group known as Armenian Americans.

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History

Armenian Americans are citizens of the U.S. who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. The group forms the second biggest population of the Armenian Diasporas, which is after Armenians within Russian (Sabagh, Bozorgmehr & Der-Martirosian, 1990). The first main wave of Armenian immigration towards the United States occurred in the late nineteenth as well as the early twentieth century. Most of the Armenians settled in the U.S. after the Hamidian massacres that happened in the mid-1990s, the 1909 Adana Massacre, and the 1915 Armenian Genocide within the Ottoman Empire. Since the 1950s most Armenians who came from the Middle East migrated to America due to political instability within the region (Ghazaryan, 2019). It hastened during the late 1980s and it has proceeded after the Soviet Union in 1991 as a result of political and socio-economic reasons.

American Community Survey of 2017 approximated that 485, 970 Americans held partial or full Armenian ancestry. The survey was criticized by several media and organizations that the number is underestimated. The highest Americans of Armenian descent concentration is within the utmost Los Angeles region, where 166, 498 of the population acknowledged themselves as Armenia in the 2000 census. 40% of that number had an origin of the U.S. with Glendale city within the Los Angeles municipal region as the Armenian American life center (Ghazaryan, 2019). Also, the community of Armenian Americans is the leading politically influential society of the Armenian Diaspora.

Discrimination

Anti-Arminianism or Anti-Armenian sentiment refers to a diverse spectrum of dislikes, negative feelings, fears, prejudice, derision, and aversion towards Armenia, Armenians, and Armenian culture. The modern anti-Armenianism is often expressed via opposition to the existence or actions of Armenia. An excellent example is the aggressive rejection of the Armenian belief or Genocide in an Armenian scheme to make history and manipulate political and public view for political gain (For Armenian Americans, Congress' recognition of their genocide is just part of the battle). In the United States, there has been historic chauvinism against Armenians throughout several times since the early 1900s.

During the 1900s Armenians was one of the minority groups who were banned from loaning land, money, and equipment especially due to their race and were nicknamed as "lower class Jews". In Los Angeles, California, Armenians resided in one area of Van Ness Blvd., while the other side was occupied by European white origin. In one of the homes, there was a deed that stated that no Negro, Japanese, Chinese, Hindu, Asiatic, or Armenian should occupy or use the said premises or any part in any matter (WowEssays, 2019).

The book title "Armenian-Americans: From Being to Feeling Armenian" by Anny Bakalian illustrates various Armenians groups that were polled in regards to discrimination on their identity (Bakalian). The results revealed that most of the US-born Armenians had the feeling that they were discriminated against in being offered a job and admitted to a school. It is evident that in most scenarios, the discrimination directed towards Armenians is due to the refutation of the Armenian Massacre. In its place, the philosophy that the Armenians revolted against the Ottoman Empire, a case usually applied by anti-Armenians to rationalize the murders that took place within Armenia.

The former president of the United States, Barack Obama contributed a lot to the Armenians discrimination. It was after failing to appropriately acknowledge the Armenian Massacre most of the time while delivering presidential statements during the commemoration of the Armenian Massacre which occurred in 1915 and is remembered annually on April 24th. He is said to have used evasive vocabulary and euphemism to explain the horrible occasion that left more than 1.5 million individuals dead and many more displaced and maimed. Therefore, with discrimination originating from all directions; the media, people, national leaders, and legislators, the Armenians tend to feel shortchanged by those very people that are believed to brother and peace-loving like (WowEssays, 2019). These people are the leaders and American citizens who must protect their fundamental freedoms and rights.

Language and Paralanguage

At present, over half of the Armenians residing within the United States communicate in the Armenian language. The Armenian language has two different standardized forms that are Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian. The forms are both broadly spoken amid the Armenian American community. In the U.S. Eastern Armenian speakers are chiefly immigrants from the previous Soviet Union who typically arrived in the 1990s. Furthermore, Eastern and Western Armenian use two distinct spellings (Karapetian, 2017). Most of the Armenians within the Diaspora apply the classical orthography.

A census that was conducted in 1980 within the U.S. most people in the country spoke Armenian with over half of them were foreign-born. Also, the 1990 U.S. census portrayed that 308, 096 individuals of Armenian ancestry and 149,694 individuals who pointed out Armenian to be their native language. Thus, most of the Armenian speakers happened to be foreign-born. A 2007 study revealed that most foreign-born Armenians tend to multilingual, meaning they speak more than one language other than English and Armenian. For example; Armenians from Syria and Lebanon may know French and Arabic, those from Armenia can converse in Russian (Karapetian, 2017). Also, almost all Iranian Armenian communicate in Persian and those from Istanbul may know to speak Turkish.

Spiritual Beliefs

Most of Armenian Americans are devotees of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is the leading Oriental Orthodox church within the United States. It has more than 90 churches all over the nation and it was reported that roughly 80% of Armenian Americans tend to be Armenian Apostolic, while 3% are Armenian Catholic and 10% are Protestant. The top states that have Armenian Church followers are Michigan, Massachusetts, New York, and California. At the present, over 120 Armenian parish societies exist on the globe, with two-thirds working as fully controlled churches with sanctuaries. The Armenian Evangelical is the second-largest denomination followed by Armenian Americans and 1 out of 10 is a follower. As of 1993, there were approximately 28 Armenian Protestant Churches (Takooshian). However, a few of Armenians Americans are devotees of the Catholic Church of Armenian and by 1990there were only six Armenian Catholic Churches within the United States.

Values and Norms

Armenians Americans usually place great emphasis on generosity and hospitality. Also, there is an emphasis on guests' respect. Men and women have equal access to the entire sectors of the economy. However, only five out of 57 banks are managed by women. In regards to employment, there exist high rates of participation by women within the labor force (Armenia). Normally, the average salary of women comprises of two-thirds of that of men. The major work regions of women are within the sectors of health and education. Women mark the largest population of workers that is unemployed. Women account for the majority of the household unpaid labor and subsistence farming work.

Traditions

Middle Eastern cuisine and Armenian cuisine in general, are famous among Armenian Americans. Several restaurants function within the Los Angeles region and other sites with high Armenian-Americans high concentrations. Zankou Chicken family possessed a chain of Middle-Eastern and Armenian fast-casual restaurants in the Los Angeles region is amongst the most popular Armenian restaurants (Dzagnidze, 2018). Many folk dances by amateur Armenian ensembles have been erected with the U.S in the last decades.

The Armenian American culture has traditionally stressed the division of domains amongst the sexes. The household/home is a domain of woman. The mother-in-law/grandmother was the household manager. Men and women both labored outside the home (Dzagnidze, 2018). When it came to chores, women had no other choice. It was their responsibility and duty to preserve the household.

The Implication for Culturally Proficient Social Work Practice

According to a study that was titled "Effects of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, and Perceived Discrimination on Anxiety and Quality of Life among Armenian Americans," the results revealed that ethnic identity, acculturation, and apparent discrimination did not influence on the anxiety domains (Ter-Petrosyan, 2018). Though, Anglo direction was an important predictor of life quality. The implication of depressive and anxiety sensitive symptoms was evident.

Conclusion

It is vivid from the discussion that the United States is made up of many varying ethnic backgrounds and cultures. It has been for long an appealing place for people looking for a refuge at times of war and aggressive situations. Though people who seek refuge here have never received an open welcome, a good example is the Armenian Americans. They are residents or citizens of the United States who usually possess total or partial ancestry of Armenian. In most circumstances, the Armenian Americans have encountered discriminations of a different form. In many of the scenes, the discrimination designated to Armenians is as a result of the rejection of the Armenian Massacre. The Armenian language is the dominant dialect used by Armenians who reside in the United States. Also, many Armenian Americans are followers of the Armenian Apostolic church making them be dominated by Christians.

References

Armenia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Armenia.html

Bakalian, A. Armenian-Americans: From Being to Feeling Armenian.

For Armenian Americans, Congress' recognition of their genocide is just part of the battle. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-12/armenian -genocide-identity-recognition?_amp=true

Ghazaryan, L. (2019). A History of Armenian Americans in Fresno: 1915-1939 (Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Northridge). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10211.3/210875

Karapetian, S. (2017). Opportunities and Challenges of Institutionalizing a Pluricentric Diasporic Language: The Case of Armenia in Los Angeles. In The Routledge Handbook of Heritage Language Education (pp. 145-160). Routledge.

Takooshian, H. (n.d.). Armenian Americans. Retrieved from https://www.everyculture.com/multi/A-Br/Armenian-Americans.html

Ter-Petrosyan, M. (2018). Effects of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, and Perceived...