The History of My Family Connected with the Culture of America

I did not notice any differences with my mates in the color, hair and eyes in my memory of my childhood. I was born in the family that composed by American and Asian which is named Asian American. My grandmother comes from China in the year of 1963 to pursue splendid job opportunities. She had been finished her college in her home country. A company employed her as an editor. She married my grandfather in the year of 1964. It is a good chance for a woman comes from another country to settle down in an American family according to the saying of my grandmother. In the year of 1965, she gave birth to a boy and a girl in the coming two years. The boy is my father who shares the blood relationship of American and Asian. He did well in the programs of the college and is good at in making friends. After graduating from the college, he was employed by an international company as a sales market management. In the year of 1987, he got married to my mother who still comes from an Asian American family. I was born in the year of 1988, the age of flourishing for the Society of America. My grandmother, a seventy- five years old lady, is selected by my to quest the history of my family. It is obviously that the Asian American is suffering the equal superficial position and the limitation attitude in the America society.

First and foremost, the Asian American was the one that can expect but cannot touch the dream in the work. The position of the Asian American was changed and ameliorated during the year of 1965 because the movement launched by Martin Luther King to change the position of the black people and fight for the basic right to live. The position of the Asian American was still changed. But the change only existed on the form. The real life of people like my grandmother especially the women Asian American stayed in the old place. My grandmother told me that she had a great ambition in her job that she was willing to be an excellent editor to reflect the real aspect of the society and the true life condition of the people in the lower places. However, many great opportunities were listed on the front of her, and she had no chance to touch them. The articles written by the Asian American could only by printed on the supplement. The obvious pages were only for the writers who had an American family. The reason for this reality is because it is worthy to read and believe of the contents of the articles written by the Americans not the Asian Americans. “Sometimes this feeling reflects a fear of alienating men -- a consequence that seems inevitable if men are unable to own up to their gender privilege.” (Women and Gender Issues) Hence, my grandmother said to me that no matter how excellent the article you write, the opportunities that to be a super editor will not fall down on you. America is a place that allows a person to have and pursue his dream, but the realization of the dream has a lot of condition.

Furthermore, the reality of the superficial equality of the Asian American not only reflected in the work but also exist in the school life. My grandmother told me the story of my father about enrolling in college. As my father grow up in the free and healthy family environment, he was found that he was interested in a lot of things such as sports, painting, speaking and so on. The growing time for my father, memorized by my grandmother, was full of happiness and freedom which was built by my grandparents. However, the road of enrolling by the college was not smooth. The standers of the enrollment of the colleges in America depend on the wealth status of the parents. “The typical college list for parents of high-achieving Asian-American students.” (Singh) At the same time, the American students naturally have a series of advantages in front of the limited quota. The grade of Asian American will be higher than it of American. Finally, my father was allowed by a comprehensive college which was in need of enough students at that time. He selected the major, marketing that has the potential of dominating the main social wealth in the future. It is obviously that American students will engage the main resources in the school such as the opportunities of employing by well-known companies.

It is naturally acknowledged that the experiences of my family have a close relationship with the social policies and environment which was established by the American history. The problems which are aroused by discrimination in the society of America are familiar and ordinary with us. The discrimination in the society of America, which was suffered by my family, can be concluded as the issue of race, gender, and class.

For one thing, the career experience of my grandmother reflects the fact that the race and gender are significant in the work for an Asian American and an Asian American woman. America is an immigration country that the residents emigrated from, Europe and Asia such as China, Japanese, Korea, and India. Hence, the race is specifically crucial thing in the America society. Besides, it is the first and main stander to understand and value a person. On one will deny that the society of America is white dominated. The advantage resources and opportunities will be enjoyed and shared by the white. It is the same with the company. It is advocated that the opportunities for promotion are equally in front of everyone in the company no matter your race. However, in the reality, employees of other race do not have the chance to catch the final goal. There is a transparent wall which is named racism stands between them and this career dream. Residence in other races does not believe to have upper and higher level ability to control and monitor the group which is composed of the white. The experience of my grandmother in this company proved that the public of America is more likely to accept the news and arguments provided by their race. Hence, the newspaper office in America values and promotes employees depends on the where the editor comes from.

For another, my grandmother told me that the reason that she did not prove and admitted by her office is because of her gender which is an issue could not be changed. The change refers to two aspects: the gender of my grandmother could not be changed her life, and the attitude of the society does not have the attempt to change. It is obviously that the position of the white men is the highest in the society and then is the white women and then is the men of other races. The last one is women in other races. Women are thought that do have a lot of natural limitation which will become the obstacles for their career. For example, they need to give birth to their babies and need the welfare of the company to support the basic life. Besides, the right of receiving an education is different between male and female. They will not allow getting to the position in polite and other important offices. Hence, they do not need advanced education. These are all the forms of discrimination against women. We could not hard to find that there are hardly women employed by the higher position no matter the government or the company.

Finally, the discrimination of the society will lead to the strict classification. Residences will be pinned by the label of a higher class, middle class, and lower class. The stander of dividing social class is based on the wealth and income. It is natural that the more wealth someone have, the more opportunities for reaching the social wealth which is contained in the social communication, people bases and social resources. However, people who do not obtain more wealth will not more successfully in the process of becoming wealthy. The opportunities of reaching upper class mean the more possibilities of earning more money. The process of enrolling in his college of my father was determined, to a certain degree, by the background of the family the student belongs to. It means that the class of my grandparents is still the condition for the college to consider. Even though Asian American’s life in America seems not too much smooth, they still make their life more successfully. “Asian Americans are the highest-income, best-educated and fastest-growing racial group in the United States. They are more satisfied than the general public with their lives, finances and the direction of the country, and they place more value than other Americans do on marriage, parenthood, hard work, and career success, according to a comprehensive new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center.” (The Rise of Asian Americans)

According to the analysis of Gregory Mantsios, the theory of economic spectrum describes the status of the history of my family. It is said that “the middle class in the United States holds a very small share of the nation’s wealth.”(Mantsios 203) This point of view conveys the meanings that the level of wealth does determine the class and social degree a family belongs to and the potential to meet and know the social group that obtains large social wealth. Besides, we could arrive the meaning from this point of view that middle class maybe the biggest group in America and they do not have the largest wealth. The situation of my family could be determined by economic spectrum which is the reason of determining the class. The race of my family determines what extent we will obtain the social wealth because the opportunities of reaching wealth will depend on the race.

I have not been thought that I am a person who different from the whites. However, the differences do exist in my life and the history of my family. The traditional discrimination attitude of the Society of America deeply influences the fate of my grandfather, my parents and me. No one will deny that the group of Asian American does create the biggest wealth in the society. They are good at learning their major, creating new ideas for the development and try their best to make a contribution to their homeland, America. However, the society seems not admit the progress made by Asian American and other races. They have the instinct point of view that blood relationship determined everything. Even though the race limited our life and fate, we still love our life and continue to be more happiness in the land we belong to.