Ethnocentrism, Racism, and The American Dream
This video highlights a few of the issues we in America are facing today in regards to ostracizing portions of people. The first fifteen seconds of the video uses a clip from the classic "Great American Melting Pot" episode of School House Rock, where they teach american school children about how america is a place where cultures are blended together. However, the clip is interrupted by the turning off a television and replaced with images that share the more honest truth of American Culture. The pictures are meant to show that America has not ever truly been a "melting pot", but really a place that is only welcoming to a specific group of the population, particularly whites, and more specifically, white males. The pictures follow a sequence of "Now" and "Then" where they show that while time has passed, many people still hold the racist and ethnocentric views of the past. This is a problem when it comes to the "American Dream" because if there is so much hatred towards minority groups, then these masses of people will not have the same opportunities for success that White Americans will, which goes against the everything the American Dream is supposed to stand for.
The next portion of the video shows a young girl named Alizaih Suarez who is a twenty year old Anthropology Major at Longwood University who is not originally from one of the 50 contiguous states, but was born in the United States Territory of Puerto Rico. In the clip she talks about her struggles that came with not speaking English when she first moved to the US, and how she did not receive the open welcome that she expected. This shows that America paints a picture of itself to the outside world that we do not actively believe ourselves. This piece was included in the video to showcase how we are not welcoming to those who are different from us, and how we do not open up the concept of the American Dream for those who do not assimilate into our culture.
Alizaih Suarez: "I am originally from Puerto Rico and I moved to the United States when I was nine years old. I did not speak a word of English which terrified me, but my mother told me that America was the land of opportunity, so I expected to love my new home. However, I wasn't welcomed by lady liberty, I was made to feel less than everyone else. I was told to go back to where I came from, because I didn't belong, because I was different."
The next clips in the film is more explanation as to why America is not truly the "Land of Opportunity" because of our ethnocentric values. We are not appreciative of differing cultures and this translates into the division of social groups within American society. This is also the portion where we define ethnocentrism as well as expose the false reality of out "post racial" society. The following portion shows examples if racism/ethnocentrism in american society. The first clip is a group of white supremacists rallying in Charlottesville, VA in August of 2017. The men are chanting "you will not replace us" in this short clip, but it is also known that many of the groups at this event were also chanting old Nazi chants from the second world war. The next clip is of a woman in a franchise market located in Northern Virginia making derogatory remarks regarding Muslims as well as negative, and false, claims against former President Barack Obama. The third clip in this series is of two women arguing in a Walmart in Texas, where the older white woman tells the female regarding she should "go back to mexico" because "this is not her country" and no American wants her here. The final clip in this portion of the video is of a man at a support rally for Donald Trump, and he decides on camera to shout at an African American female that if she does not like what is going in then she can "go back to Africa". The whole point of our project is to hopefully encourage people to stand up against these bigots who want to maintain the exclusivity of the American Dream.
After the video "ends" with the realization that the American Reality is much less ideal than the American Dream, we included some videos of a few people discussing their idea of the American Dream. While, each person did say something different, there was the common theme of equal opportunity for all people willing to work towards their own goals. The appearances appear in this order:
- Alizaih Suarez, 20
- Beth Carter, 40
- Hannah Perry, 20
- Justice Griffen, 20
Our hope is that everyone who watches this video takes away a sense of responsibility to do better and be better at including people who are different from them. We hope that America will one day truly be a place where anyone and everyone can succeed if they put their all into what they do. We want to see less pride in being an American, and more pride in being a human being. America is a great country, but it could be better, and it definitely is not the best. We want to move away from the ethnocentric ideology that is often pushed off as "patriotism" and we want to see more encouragement of outside nations and appreciation of different culture. Above all else, we want to see more love, because love is much more powerful than hate could ever be.
- The American Reality Team
Video Citations:
Ethnocentrism Definition: Franke, R. (2010). Ethnocentrism and Racism Historical Views [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from https://msuweb.montclair.edu/~franker/Historicalviewsonracethnocentrism.pdf.
All Images: Retrieved From Google
Videos: None of these videos are our own, but they were retrieved from publicly shared sites, with credits given on screen.