Essay over Sen and Election Statistics (Essay Sample)

Student's Name; Professor's Name; Course; Date; Essay over Sen and Election Statistics The United States 2016 election went down as one of the most divided in the American history with the country divided into racial and religious lines. The fundamental existence of the United States as a country has been its stand on multiculturalism whereby different groups such as whites, blacks, Latinos, and Natives live together without viewing each other according to racial lines. Religious identity was also not an issue before but currently Muslims are seen as terrorists thanks to xenophobic remarks by the now President-elect Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate ran his campaign on the promise of banning immigration and building a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump was repeatedly quoted as saying that his administration would racially profile immigrants and Muslims as he considered them a threat to the American national security. Promoting and strengthening a multicultural society in the United States has been one of the hallmarks of its democracy which is now threatened by a Republican president who has divided the country along different culturesCITATION Jam03 \p 197 \l 1033 (Banks 197). A culture of a place refers to the way of life of such people, including their shared language, beliefs, values and norms. The United States society is made up of whites, Latinos, African Americans, Asians, Native Americans and native Hawaiians. For a long time, the United States culture has been described as multicultural since it comprises of people from different cultures who live together in harmony. The 2016 presidential election threatened such diversity and divided people along racial, religious and cultural lines. The official campaigning period was marked by racial rhetoric from the Republican presidential candidate which led to violence by white supremacists in the country. A lot of citizens and immigrants in the country reported after the election that they were afraid of being attacked because of being immigrants or among the groups which Trump referred to as undocumented immigrants. The 2016 presidential election has brought big divisions in the United States which had never been witnessed since slavery periodCITATION Sta16 \p 10 \l 1033 (Renshon 10). The current violence and divisions resemble the experience that author Amartya Sen in the book "Identity and Violence" after witnessing an injured Muslim laborer who was stabbed by Hindus during riots which occurred in the region of Bengal. Sen explains the horrors of the violence that he witnessed during that time, wondering what led to the Hindus and Muslims to fight and they had previously lived together as a community in harmony. The author recalls the event in his book, arguing that it traumatized him for a long time wondering how a community can be hostile to another one to appoint of deciding to kill them. Sen also wonders why a group of people who have lived together in peace and harmony suddenly turn into violence and divide themselves according to racial, religious and social lines. Sen Writes, "the violence of identity was extraordinarily hard to grasp. It is not particularly easy for a still bewildered elderly adult." CITATION Ama08 \p 10 \l 1033 (Sen 10)This is the current feeling in the United States as the world watches one of the most stable democracies in the world turn into each other violently. Understanding and implementing a plan to promote and strengthen a multicultural society in the United States calls for all races, religious and social groups to live together as before instead of the current divisions which are being witnessed in the country. Such events bring to focus the words of former President Abraham Lincoln who argued that a house divided cannot stand and thus the crisis at the time needed to be reached and passed. Lincoln was addressing the nation during a time during a time of racial, political and social divisions and the height of slavery in the United States. Promoting a multicultural society in the United States means embracing the words of the outgoing president Barack Obama that there is no black, white or Latino America, there is only the United States of America. President Obama also stated during the 2004 Democratic national convention that all Americans served one living God despite being of different religious denominations and groups. Obamas and Donald Trump's sentiments are very different and are said to have or will have a great significance in the future of the United States as a multicultural society. Whereas Obama advocated for the togetherness and multiculturalism of the United States, Trump seems to favor dividing and sponsoring violence of the different groups currently in existence in the country. For instance, the Americans currently view immigrants as a disease in the country after the Republican presidential candidate associated crimes, drugs and job losses to them. Such rhetoric's created animosity which is currently witnessed whereby immigrants fear that the natives can harm themCITATION Pau161 \p 5 \l 1033 (Snatchko 5). According to Paul Snatchko of Paulist Fathers, the 2016 American presidential election presents a difficult time for the American nation, as headlines have left the country disturbed and disoriented. Prejudices which were long dead have risen again and given a new voice which was advanced by the Republicans during the presidential campaign. Such prejudices include the animosity between whites and African Americans, natives, and immigrants as well as whites and Latinos. The Muslims are also facing a difficult time as Donald Trump threatened during the presidential campaigns that his regime would come up with a registry for vetting all Muslims in the countryCITATION Tys16 \p 10 \l 1033 (Tyson and Maniam 10). Strengthening a multicultural society in the United States calls for understanding the fears that minority groups such as immigrants, Muslims and Latinos experience at the moment and address. Tensions are running high in some United States cities and as Amartya Sen wonders, what makes people who have been living in harmony in a multicultural society decide to fight and harm each other? Bad politics fuel some of the inter-ethnic and inter-racial conflicts around the world, and that is what the United States need to step away fr...