From the beginning of America’s, freedom of expressing one’s lifestyle choices without prosecution has been the driving factor for colonization. These lifestyle choices include one’s expression and appreciation of their own culture. However, assimilation challenges these freedoms, preservation of family history, and goes againsts the very principles of what America is today. We can look back at history as see the damage that assimilation and lack of acceptance has caused in comparison to the great advances and civil advancement multiculturalism has achieved.
Multiculturalism is a prevalent component of America’s culture that has enriched it greatly by encouraging civil advancement and better understanding of each other’s cultures and backgrounds. Movements throughout the decades have led to vast civil evolution. For example, the Civil Rights Movement fought for equal voting rights for blacks and public facilities that are now open to everyone. Also Caesar Chavez’s migrant farmer movement has created a safer and more fair working environment for migrant workers, which tend to be Hispanic. Both movements have helped even out the playing field, making America a more generally accepting and moral reasoning society. In addition to becoming more accepting, due to multiculturalism, Americans have better understandings of each other and other cultures. Large American cities are homes to hundreds of different nationalities that all interlink to keep the community functioning. In these kinds of environments, children especially socialize and quickly become accustomed to new backgrounds and customs. This exposure at a young age can prepare and raise them to be more accepting and understanding later in life. Multiculturalism in America isn’t necessarily just a mutual understanding between two people anymore, but instead reaches much further. Resources like the Internet are multicultural hubs that are flooding with subcultures and niche groups. The United States is one of the largest global consumers of the Internet, in turn causing strangers to become connected despite geographically, cultural, and social differences. To conclude, multiculturalism has helped make America a more legally fair country with an open and understanding society.
On the other hand, assimilation has had a much longer and harder history in America. Due to assimilation, many ethnic groups, specifically Native Americans, lost their history and heritage. The loss of history came with the forced assimilation of many ethnic groups in America during the late 1800’s. Everyone from Native Americans, Hispanics, East Asians, Eastern Europeans, and blacks were pressured to assimilate and forget their customs in hopes of socially advancing in education and financially. This forced rejection of one’s heritage is a dark mark that many try to forget, but it is a very true reality. Similarly, many refused to assimilate, and because of this, many people died. Political and social tensions resulted in hate crime killings or worsening of social conditions, like poor housing or less successful schools. To summarize, assimilation has done more harm than good to the American people, as it has killed off groups of people and their heritage.
Both multiculturalism and assimilation are influential elements of American society. However one has helped us better civil quality, while the other has forced groups of people to leave behind a way of life and even pay their life for it. In conclusion, multiculturalism has bettered American society in that we have more civil equality and better understanding of each other, whereas assimilation has caused us to forget our history and caused the death of those who refused.