Multiculturalism and Diversity in the US Health Department (Essay Sample)

Multiculturalism and Diversity
Name:
School Affiliation:
Date:
The minority are now no longer a population majority today. Hispanics and the black community (now referred to as African Americans) have increased in number, not only in their neighborhoods, but also in workplaces. Traditionally, the white children have been brought up to believe in a white supremacy. They have been raised believing that the whites are superior to the other races. In fact, some decades ago, the situation was so bad that some whites started neo-Nazi movements. These groups were created in order to harass the blacks, the Hispanics and Asians who were viewed as invaders (Yosso, 2005). Young people believed that the foreigners were taking over America and hence they needed to protect it. Today, however, there is remarkable difference in the racial gap. More whites are now aware that all individuals regardless of their race are the same. The African Americans have in fact set new standard. These individuals shine in sports and in other fields as well hence begging a response to the question of which culture has the most wealth.
Knowledge is the most important capital in a hierarchical society. In a traditional setup, the whites have the best jobs, they are better educated and they have what it takes to lift their lifestyles a notch higher (Yosso, 2005). These people are therefore in the bracket of higher and middle class. On the other hand, most people in the minority group have low education levels, they do not make respectable incomes, and they are not considered quite intelligent. According to the article, “Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth”, those individuals who are not in the upper or middle class are not born with the knowledge, which is the capital, and, therefore, they have to acquire that knowledge through formal education (Yosso, 2005). This concept is quite interesting because of the fact that it is prejudicial. It means that some white individuals do not need an education in order to further their wealth. In fact, they do not need any formal education at all as wealth is already an in-born accessory that they naturally possess. On the other hand, the minority, especially the African Americans and Hispanics, have to go through rigorous education systems in order to attain a middle or upper class status. Unfortunately, sometimes even those who give their all end up living a modest lifestyle not close to what the upper and middle class whites. The theory is one of the worst issues that can be raised on pedagogy, and comparing social wealth with education is perhaps a bad thing after all (Adams et al, 2010).
Mike Tyson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and many others, are people who grew up in lower class of America. However, these individuals were able to overcome the odds and become very important individuals in the history of the United States. They were quite successful in what they did, and they were quite talented. The fact that they came from the lower class did not affect their productivity (Fukuyama, 2006). No looking at financial standing, it would be important to claim that these people, all who were African Americans, were really talented. They were from the lower class but they did not need formal education in order to become icons in the sports world. In short, it is easy to say that these individuals had wealth which had remained untapped. Cultural background of African Americans is quite important in order to understand the phenomena.
From the above statement, it is true to say that all cultures have their own wealth, only that it is not defined by knowledge as the theory seeks to insinuate. The cultural diversity that a society has is the wealth of that society as a whole (Adams et al, 2010). It is not possible to have everything in one culture and absolutely nothing in the other (Fukuyama, 2006). When people learn to appreciate cultural diversity and learn to accept one another, they realize the contribution each individual has to that society (Nieto & Bode, 2008).
There is no need for a critical race theory which seeks to explain that one culture has more wealth than...