Several Problems in American Society

The conflict between the revolutionary Kiswana and her bourgeois mother in Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place illustrates the positions of one who has not assimilated enough, thereby denying herself greater opportunity, and one who has assimilated too much, thereby losing her original cultural connections and disdaining her own people. Kiswana's mother is berating her daughter for living in poverty, and Kiswana argues that revolution is necessary to overthrow the system. Kiswana's mother offers a defense of the middle ground, even though she herself has fully assimilated: "You're going to have to fight within the system, because it and these so-called 'bourgie' schools are going to be here for a long time. . . . You don't have to sell out, . . . but you could . . . open a freedom school in this very neighborhood" (Naylor, 1983, 84).

In his introduction to his book Chicano Voices, Carlota Cardenas de Dwyer argues essentially that the "distinct Chicano culture" is itself a culture representing the effective gradual assimilation which preserves the original culture while providing opportunity to enter the prevail

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ray[s] an underlying image of what black should be" (Colombo, 1992, 289). The anti-racist education would become increasingly subtle as children grew older and were capable of understanding such subtleties. As we read in Cathleen Decker's article, racism can be thrown even at white males: "You will hear people say that the white male . . . is responsible for all the ills of mankind. . . . I try to remind people . . . how bigoted and dangerous it is. Why don't you just add one word to that---white male Jews---and get the knee boots and the swastikas out" (Decker, 1995, 3). The educational system I propose would result in a raising of the consciousness of every individual---through the personal experience of being hurt and feeling how terrible it is to hurt another through racism. 3. It is preposterous to argue that all an American-born member of a minority group needs to do to have the same opportunities as all others in the society is to see himself or herself as primarily American. This is the equivalent of saying that all a baseball player needs to do is call himself a New York Yankee to play major league baseball in Yankee Stadium. However a member of an ethnic minority sees himself or herself is only one part of the pictur
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Michael Nava, Realities Colombo, Cathleen Decker's, Women Brewster, Carlota Cardenas, Yankee Stadium, Roger Wilkins, Richard Rubio, Winant Colombo, Howard Winant, de dwyer, affirmative action, colombo 1992, naylor 1983, et al, colombo et al, colombo et, distinct chicano culture, racial ideology, women brewster, mantsios writes, racial myths, colombo 1992 290,
Approximate Word count = 1685
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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