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Race and Ethnicity
Racism is common plight facing the American people and the world as a whole. For
centuries, the issue of racism and ethnicity have always received wide criticism with the
inferiors group often being the center of sympathy. What many individuals seem to be missing
is the fact that ethnicity groups can either be minority or majority in the entire population and
that it affects both groups, sometimes in equal measures. In the book 50 Essays: A Portable
Anthology by Samuel Cohen, this theme consists of highlights on topics such as white racism,
colored racism, and civil rights. The emphasis lies on its adverse impacts on the minority groups,
yet there are a few instances when the incidence lies with the majority as well. Racism is a global
issue, yet in America, the menace have degenerated to a separation, not by skin color, but by the
place of origin such as Native America, Hispanics, Caucasian, Eastern Oriental, African
American, Anglo-Saxon or Italian (Cohen). According to Jared Diamonds Race without Color,
discrimination is now shifting from classification by color to a separation by ethnicity. What
remains unclear is whether this stray is a move gearing towards conformity or more
discrimination (Tanenhaus).
Martin Luther King Jr. draws us back to the plight of the African Americans during the
height of the black communitys most important time of the civil war uprising. In an emotional
letter addressed to the Church with a critical focus on the issue of segregation, King reveals a
carefree attitude towards the Churchs call for an end to demonstrations and instead focus on

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their duty to the Black community. King tries as much as possible to appeal to the emotions,
logic and ethics of the general American society to the injustices faced by the people of
Birmingham (Cohen). Such appeals are quite useful since they give readers daily situations they
can relate with. This artistry comes out when he provides an illustration of a father who has to
explain to her six-year-old daughter why she cannot attend a certain school, or go to a particular
amusement park that was just opened (Cohen). Audre Lordes, however, employs quite a
different style to illustrate the sufferings and discrimination of the African Americans. She gives
a first-hand experience of a black American girl with racism she never had to deal with before
(Cohen). Lorde is angry with the American society and conveys her anger throughout the essay.
She, however, predominantly uses the concept of irony to contain her ravishing anger, make the
tone calm and the article interesting.
In a sombre twist, Judith Ortiz Cofer, a Latin woman narrates her life story as a female
Hispanic living in the United States. She depicts in her essay, how female Latinos have been
stereotyped as sex objects, loose and can only do simple manual jobs (Cohen). As a Puerto Rican
girl, she was expected to dress in a certain way that made them look older than they were. This
kind of dressing was somehow viewed as indecent and often sent mixed signals to their lustful
male American members. According to Cofer, while media have always taken such stereotypes
as comic or humorous, they do hurt. She also uses a series of rhetorical, emotional and ethical
appeals to pass her messages across. The reader, therefore, feels both sorrow for the stereotypes
laid on her and appreciation for her commitment to her heritage. Gloria Anzalduas How to
Tame a Wild Tongue, tackles racism, cultural imperialism, and identity formation, in an
expository writing that can only be described as confounded (Cohen). To her, acculturation is
cruel, violent and robs one of her identity. She is a proud Spanish, yet she is openly despised for

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speaking her language. Even her family encourages her to speak better English, without any
accents to enable her to secure a niche in the American rhetoric dream. In her article, she uses
purely Spanish dialect intentionally, a diction meant to give the readers who do not speak
Spanish a little taste of how she feels all the time.
Most articles in this anthology seem to be only highlighting the plight of the ethnic
minority groups. Zora Neale Hurstons How it Feels to be Colored Me and Brent Staples Just
Walk on by Black Men and Public Spaces,' describes the sad lives of blacks living in whites
dominated states (Cohen). The stereotypes, the injustices and the discriminations against the
blacks are unbelievable, yet the despised minority have often persisted. 50 Essays aside, in
February 2010, Sam Tanenhaus published a fascinating twist to this whole discrimination issue.
Violence that Art Didnt See Coming,' reveals how high-status white women can be cold
blooded murderers, thereby introducing crime from the perspective of the non-typical ethnicity
to the debate. White racism the author claims may seem as ridiculous but is, in fact, happening in
the present society. Because black people think that the whites are racists, they are actually being
racist towards the white people (Tanenhaus). Today, more and more whites feel they are facing
racism than the even the blacks, the study reveals.
Racism is thus an enormous societal problem destroying the very core of our moral
fabrics. There is a dire need from all of us to appreciate one anothers cultural origin and live as
one for the betterment of humanity. Ethnicity is a vice and one that we should all fight at any
cost. Besides, there is nothing as positive or negative ethnicity. While it may be taken that
positive ethnicity is humorous by the media and comedians, at its very best, such public mockery
only work to catapult the already amounting stereotypes on the other end, and intensifying
discrimination of the group in question.

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Works Cited
Cohen, Samuel S. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. Print.
Tanenhaus, Sam. "Violence that art didnt see coming." The New York Times, 28, 2010. Internet
source.