Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Ethnic Groups and Discrimination

Paul Hoopsick

Axia College

Most of the people residing in the United States of America today, have immigrated here from almost every country on the globe. So to say that this country is diverse is an understatement. That brings us to the many questions that living in such diversity has to offer. The main question, is should each group be treated differently because of what is has to offer or its lack of offering? This includes but is not limited to education, religion, race or wealth. If we were to treat people because of these reasons, we would be holding them back from becoming the best United States citizens they can be.

Having a German-Protestant background my family was excluded from some of the hostility that other group had to endure when arriving and living in the United States of America. That is not saying that we had no part in what was going on. The difference is that we were on the giving end of some of those hardships and down right meanness. Luckily, my family members were known a passive people and chose not to participate in such cruelty.

My ancestors did not have to face most of the prejudices and racist actions going on in this country in its beginning. One of the reasons my ancestors were not subject to this is because before immigrating to the United States of America, a gentleman called Francis Daniel Pastorius, a land agent contacted the governor of Pennsylvania to buy land for the German settlers north of Philadelphia later known as Germantown. Davitt Publications (2000). That is where my people lived. That governor was a German fellow called William Penn.

I guess one could say that the Germans in the U.S.A. faced some segregation. Although, most of the segregation we faced were by choice. Choosing to live in the country and farm kept the German settlers out of mainstream life. Choosing to live segregated from the mainstream and choosing farming as a career choice meant that these...