Assimilation Process & the Garifuna

The cited Los Angeles Times article describes the cultural experience of the Garifuna over the past several centuries. They were the survivors of a shipwreck in 1600 near the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. All African-Americans destined for slavery prior to the shipwreck, the Garifuna acquired a distinctive identity as 'Black Caribs' after they intermingled with Caribbean natives in St. Vincent and along the east coast of Central America. They speak a now extinct South American dialect known as

Arawakan. Today's survivors left St. Vincent in 1797 after it was taken over by the British rather than give up their language and culture.

Always a small minority wherever they have lived, anthropologist Catherine Mecklin says they "come from a proud tradition of mobile, persistent people, who have succeeded in maintaining their legacy over the centuries, in numerous nations, despite hostile physical and social environments" (O'Connor n.p.).

Traditional functional ethnic relations theory has held that assimilation, which Macionis defines as "the process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the dominant culture," is bot

. . .
ntage of the opportunities here. However, inequality of wealth and disparity between social classes have substantially increased during recent decades making it more difficult for recently arrived immigrant groups, especially those without wealth and without fundamental skills needed in modern economies, to move up the social and economic ladder. The Garifuna and other recent immigrant groups enter a society as members of an underclass in which educational standards are low and from which escape is extremely difficult. Third, the mainstream itself is a bit inchoate. If America is no longer the land of economic opportunity, just what are the hallmarks of its culture? Drugs and crime? Disrespect for authority? Vulgar television shows and movies? Declining education standards? Considerations such as these should give a new group like the Garifuna pause before they permit their children to plunge wholesale into American youth culture which at its best is fairly inane and its worst extremely violent. On a scale of one to ten, the Garifuna resistance to assimilation appears to be an 8 or 9, but in fact, their children, by say a factor of 8, are against the will of their elders being drawn into some of the worst features of American soc
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Brooklyn Jewish, Catherine Mecklin, Saxon Protestant, Garifuna Assimilation, Havana Miami, Garifuna America, European American, Culturally United, Eastern Europe, Enclaves Abrahamson, american society, urban enclaves, norms values, social economic, recently arrived, st vincent, experience garifuna, recent decades, cultural norms values, native americans, economic opportunity, recently arrived immigrant,
Approximate Word count = 2487
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)