A Spill at Parsenn Bowl

Penelope Herideen

Rilwan Okuwobi

SP15_SOC 110.90

1/14/2015

What do members of minority group’s gain and lose as they undergo a process of assimilation?

This is a very good question, as you know, assimilation, is the process where individuals or groups belonging to a certain ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society. When this happens, these groups take on the traits of the dominant culture so much that they begin to act like everyone else and eventually, it is not evident that they once belonged to another cultural group. The Native American culture is the perfect example of this. This is a positive thing because people become accepted in a society. They blend in and belong to a community by following the norms of it, and they are able to socialize, have friends, and co-exist peacefully with everyone else. However, in the process they begin to lose their original heritage. It begins to eventually take a toll on their belief system, holiday celebrations, religious beliefs, food preferences, and with their relations in their homeland because these things are replaced with the dominant society's beliefs, holiday celebrations, religion, food preferences, and relations. The longer that a person is in another dominant culture, they begin to basically forget their original cultural heritage and replace it with their new one. I see this happening in my own family right now. I am a second-generation American who has parents rich with their heritage even after being in this country for many years. My own children, despite my best efforts, have very little interests in the "old" ways and enjoy their American lifestyles more. In a way, I am happy that they are accepted in school and fit in with the rest of society. On the other hand, it is heartbreaking seeing our family heritage slowly demising.

What do you think might be some effective ways of attempting to improve contemporary American race relations?

This is also a very good question!...