Zank 1

Janine Zank
Prof. Vana Derohanessian
ENGL 115 Mon, Wed at 11
23 November 2014
Ethnic Minorities in American Society
Being part of an ethnic minority in America directly impacts the way people are treated
as they go about their day-to-day lives. In their essays, Porochista Khakpour, Maxine Hong
Kingston, and Amy Tan all discuss how being foreign in the United States has affected them in
their daily lives. In an effort to better understand the every-day experiences of ethnic minorities,
it would be beneficial to examine the experiences of these women in the various aspects of their
lives they chose to bring to light; namely their depiction in the media, their treatment by white
Americans in the real world, and the way being part of an ethnic minority has affected their
family life.
Since media has taken over Americans lives, it is understandable that it helps shape the
way we think and, subsequently, how we view ourselves and other people. In her article Reality
TV Goes Where Football Meets the Hijab, Khakpour addresses the way reality televisions
depiction of foreigners has had an impact on her life. She explains how media made her aware of
being different here as a young Iranian girl growing up in California, noting that, the people on
the screen did not resemble my family (Khakpour 525). Lack of diversity in media is hardly a
new topic, but a bigger issue is the way non-white people are portrayed on television. In "The
Impact Of A Prejudice-Prevention Television Program On Young Childrens Ideas About Race",

Zank 2

Anna Persson and Dara R. Musher-Eizenmans analysis of a study they performed regarding
diversity on screen, Persson and Musher-Eizenman examine the impact of television on young
viewers. What they found correlates perfectly with Khakpours experiences; by exposing
children to television shows of varying degrees of diversity, Persson and Musher-Eizenman
found that, it is not just the number of minority individuals shown on television that makes an
impact on the attitudes of the viewers, but rather critical portrayals.(Persson and MusherEizenman 3). Khakpour observed this herself and felt the effects of it when she was repeatedly
cast as villains in school productions due to the stereotypes brought about by negative portrayal
of foreigners on television. Naturally, it is not only Khakpour who is affected by these
misleading depictions; every single non-white American who watches television is exposed to
them, including young children who, as Persson and Musher-Eizenman established, are
extremely impressionable. Simply by turning on the TV, they are being trained to view
themselves and other members of ethnic minorities as outsiders and outcasts.
Considering how Americans choose to portray people of color on television and in the
media, it is hardly surprising that members of ethnic minorities are not always treated well in the
United States. They face obstacles that privileged white Americans - or those Americans who are
of Western European decent - never have to, such as being racially profiled and discriminated
against when seeking employment. Being part of an ethnic minority impacts the way people are
treated every day. In her essay Mother Tongue, Amy Tan describes a situation when her
mother was treated unfairly and ignored by hospital workers because she could not speak English
fluently, marking her as an outsider. Tan recognizes why the situation occurred, and goes so far
as to admit that hearing her mother speak in her broken English, limited my [Tans] perception
of her (Tan 3). This reflects peoples tendency to view those who appear foreign, whether by

Zank 3

skin color or by words, as not as worthy of fair treatment as someone people might consider to
be a traditional American; a person with white skin who is fluent in English.
Finally, being part of an ethnic minority has a huge impact on ones family life and
culture. Maxine Hong Kingston puts the confusion she felt growing up into words in her essay
No Name Woman, asking her fellow Chinese-Americans, when you try to understand what
things in you are Chinese, how do you separate what is peculiar toone familyfrom what is
Chinese? What is Chinese tradition and what is the movies? (Kingston 1). Many people,
especially in their youth, struggle to accept, to maintain, or to simply understand their cultural
backgrounds and identities. Because she does not fully understand her familys culture or
history, Kingston has a hard time balancing Chinese and American influences. She has a
particularly difficult time since she has no way of asking her family for help or guidance due to
the circumstances in which her aunt died. The impact being part of an ethnic minority has on
Kingston is evident in her effort to garner the attentions of boys as a young girl. Because of her
Chinese background where so many of neighbors were related in some way, she learns to treat
all boys as if they are her brothers, even though she is now in America and there is little to no
chance of being related to any of her classmates.
Tans family life is also influenced by her ethnic background. Clearly, her mothers way
of speaking crept into Tans own vernacular and regularly makes appearances in her
conversations with her husband. Tan describes this as our language of intimacy, a different sort
of English that relates to family talk, and it stems directly from her Chinese background mixing
with American culture and influences (Tan 2). Having a Chinese background while growing up
in America also seems to have put a strain on Tans relationship with her mother from time to
time. In relation to her mother, Tan mentions that she often felt ashamed of her English and

Zank 4

thought that her English reflected the quality of what she had to say (Tan 3). This clearly
exemplifies the clashing of the two cultures and the implications of that on family life.
A number of Americans, particularly those who regularly tune in to Fox News, have the
tendency to claim, when arguing over affirmative action or other race-related topics of
controversy, that being part of an ethnic minority has no implications in the United States of
America. These people like Rand Paul, a conservative politician, and Ann Coulter, an outspoken
blogger, believe that, if anything, people in ethnic minorities are at an advantage due to systems
like affirmative action. Many conservative politicians are against affirmative action because they
feel employment and college admission ought to be colorblind. In a perfect world where all
people were on level ground, such a thing may be understandable. However, although having an
ethnic background does have its advantages in that it tends to make one more worldly and
cultured, it actually puts people at quite a disadvantage politically, economically, and sociallyspeaking for the reasons mentioned in the paragraphs above. Ethnic minorities are often victims
of racial profiling and are mistreated and looked over due to misconceptions brought about by
the manipulative nature of race-based reality TV shows and other forms of media. They also
experience discrimination in the workforce, which puts them at an economic disadvantage. In
school, children with ethnic backgrounds may also struggle because, like Khakpour, they have a
warped self-image or, like in the case of Tan, they speak a language that is considered imperfect.
When taking all this into consideration, it is difficult to imagine how so many people can
possibly refuse to acknowledge the existence of white privilege in America. How else can one
explain why everything and everyone foreign and ethnic is deemed to be of lower stature than
that which is white and, for lack of a better term, traditionally American?

Zank 5

Through the experiences of Khakpour, an Iranian-American, and Kingston and Tan, both
Chinese-Americans, one may begin to understand how being part of an ethnic minority affects
peoples lives. Clearly, not all of its implications are as helpful as some may argue they are, but
there are many good aspects to having an ethnically diverse background. It arguably makes one a
more worldly person, and therefore more likely to be cultured and well-rounded. One might also
imagine that it brings a family closer together since they have their own culture that is not shared
by the rest of the people around them. Unfortunately, America does not always celebrate
diversity as it should, so people of ethnic minorities continue to suffer through TVs misleading
stereotyping and the publics ill-treatment as they struggle to balance multiple clashing cultures.

Zank 6

Works Cited
Khakpour, Porochista. "Reality TV Goes Where Football Meets the Hijab." New York Times 13
Nov. 2011, AR sec.: 18. Print.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. "No Name Woman." The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood
among Ghosts. New York: Knopf, 1976. N. pag. Print.
Persson, Anna, and Dara R. Musher-Eizenman. "The Impact Of A Prejudice-Prevention
Television Program On Young ChildrenS Ideas About Race." Early Childhood Research
Quarterly 18.4 (2003): 530. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Tan, Amy. The Opposite of Fate: A Book of Musings. New York: Putnam, 2003. Print.