Essential Questions for QT 3

A person’s roots greatly influence their beliefs, views and values. When looking at he perception of America through the eyes of different ethnic groups what you see will differ in great amounts. Whites will most likely say that our country is a place of great opportunity and equality. However blacks might argue the other way. Sure the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t yesterday, last week or even a year ago but it was not all that long ago. Because of this, some of the prejudices of that time are still evident in today’s society. Like the in the essay by Brent Staples where people would cross the street when they saw him coming, things of this nature still happen everyday. Now imagine looking through the eyes of a Chinese immigrant. They probably think that Americans do not place enough focus on the importance of business. This is the case for Ralph Chang. He argues with his wife that his company is the first priority and that his time must be devoted to ensuring its success. While all of these views may be different from one another, who’s to say that this is all that much of a bad thing. I mean, diversity and individuality is what America was founded on right?

It is undoubtedly true that the past shapes the future, hence the saying that history has a tendency to repeat itself. Events that occurred in the past may have left resonating emotions or even stigmas that people of today’s age may still cling to. This is true for Lily Owens’ hometown. When Rosaleen attempts to become a registered voter, white men of the town harass her. This is because blacks have never before had the opportunity to vote and were thought to me much less than the whites. This is what drove the men to act the way they did. A second example is Ruth McBride. She was raised as a member of the Jewish community but when she falls in love with a colored man her family considers her dead. The Jewish community has long believed strongly in marriage to only other Jews. Because this custom is such tradition and regarded as more or less law, it would not be to see how Ruth’s parents could have done what they did.