There are so many groups of people, who differ by their race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Each of these groups has its own preferences, interests, and ways of comprehension of this world. In this essay, we will talk about one of the ethnic groups that the general population has rather strong opinions about and about its peculiarities from a neutral point of view. We will talk about African Americans, who should be differentiated not as a racial group, but as a pure ethnic group.
Any ethnic group is considered to be a socially organized group of people that identifies itself by means of some common heritage (Edelman & Mandle, 32). African Americans are those citizens of the United States of America with origins, connected to black population of Africa.
The point is that lots of people prefer to identify African Americans as a racial group. In fact, it is a bit wrong. It is a good example of an ethnic group that even has its cultural content (Ellis, 143). Of course, being an African American is not easy; the history and the way to freedom on this ethnic group are rather sad and prejudiced. The ways, White American treated to these people, and the steps, White Americans took to enslave black people, will be always under a hot consideration.
However, nowadays, there are so many great African Americans, who did a lot in order to develop America, helped it to take the leading positions, and be one of the most powerful countries in the world. Martin Luther King Jr., Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordon, and Michael Jackson – all these people are one of the brightest representatives of this ethnic group. Each of them did something useful for his/her country in order to be remembered, be respected, and recognized.
It is necessary to admit that people of color tried to participate in numerous spheres simultaneously in order to achieve good results and use them to achieve better ones. And these great achievements are dated long time ago. Even before the birth of Christ, African Americans were mentioned as one of the best practitioners in the field of medicine (Sluby, 3).
The point is that this ethnical group has lots of own points of view within each sphere of life, which differ from any other group. For example, health. African Americans are regarded as an ethnic group that has much more chances to be affected with HIV or AIDS.
During the times of the Civil Rights war, African American got many benefits from the economical perspective; this is why this ethnic group cannot be called the poorest one. For example, Oprah Winfrey, the media personality, producer, critic, and actress is considered to be of the richest African American people in the world.
Among numerous ethnical groups all over the world, African Americans distinguish by their desire to protect people of the same group, to prove own points of view by means of words and actions at the same time, and to demonstrate that the times when someone could control them has already passed.
It is not very difficult to find some common themes with the representatives of this ethnic group, as they are always eager to listen and present personal vision of the situation. To my mind, it is high time to forget about the prejudice and pride that was demonstrated to this ethnic group by the representatives of other groups and think how to improve this world together, without fear and wars.
Works Cited
Edelman, Carole and Mandle, Carol, L. Health Promotion throughout the Lifespan. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2005.
Ellis, Donald, G. Crafting Society: Ethnicity, Class, and Communication Theory. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999.
Sluby, Patricia, C. The Inventive Spirit of African Americans: Patented Ingenuity. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004.