Individual Final Paper
Juanita Allik
ETH/125

Individual Final Paper

Learning about the history of race and ethnicity has helped me to understand the struggles, tragedies, and hurdles so many generations have endured. All races have suffered from discrimination and prejudice. Some of the most shocking information is from the African tribes and how they sold their own people into slavery and what those slave went through. After further inquisition, this was quite common in the history of all races. The African American was sold into slavery and transported all over the world, America becoming the most common place. In today’s world, the African American now have the same equal rights as all race and ethnicity. Native Americans were thought to be “savages” and battled for the right to live as all other human beings. Christians have been prosecuted and murdered for their belief in God since Christianity first began and it is still happening today. Every race and ethnicity has a story of prejudice and discrimination. Finding your roots is important, judging others for finding their roots is prejudice. . Following the path of where your ancestors came from, acknowledging the path that was taken to get to where you are today, and learning the roots of others is a task that all individuals should embark on. Learning from this, and from others, is how an individual can grow and appreciate diversity in today’s society. Finding the plight of my own culture and history was accomplished years ago. To see where some of our race has improved and progressed is a moment of pride. We cannot truly learn and grow by living in the past, we can, and however, use the knowledge to improve the future as we move forward Learning from the past should help to improve on where you go and what you accomplish in the future. The United States will outgrow other countries in population. From 2000 to 2050 the U.S. will add another 100 million to its population according to census and other projections. As other countries slow down with births, we seem to improve. Part of this is due to urbanization and rich vs poor. With the United States having more diversity than other countries, (Kotkin, 2010) explains why our population is expected to grow while other countries decline. For example: South Korea is experiencing the fastest drop in fertility in the world history. East Asia has dropped in fertility in the highly crowded cities. Japan and Europe are stagnate in their growth. Russia’s population is down by low birth and high mortality rates. Mexico and Iran have an unanticipated drop in birth rates. America will expand its population in the midst of a global demographic slowdown (Kotkin, 2010). Though America’s elderly population will be one third of our population by 2050, the advantage is that we will have the highest fertility rate in the nation. Diversity is our strong point. America is becoming the “melting pot”. With new laws preventing discrimination and with enforcing the punishment of hate crimes, we will move forward with the tools and knowledge that comes with it. Though America has lost its place in the eyes of the Nation, we have expanded our acceptance in the country we call home.
One of the challenges we face in America today is the rapid growth of racial and ethnic minorities. Though America is more excepting of other races and ethnicities, building social capital in heavily diverse communities is a challenge. The challenge is that the more of a mix, the less trust of each other there is, issues connecting with others, and differences in political beliefs ending in less participation. With America becoming “the melting pot” it is also the most religiously diverse nation on earth. This results with less engagement in community projects and charitable donations. Energy needs to improve in these areas so that discrimination and prejudice can become a thing of the past According to economist Phillippe Legrain: “The bottom line is