Ethical Paper

The major city that I most closely related to is Los Angeles. Because even though I am not technically a part of the city, I am still part of the greater Los Angeles area. Los Angeles County is an area that is filled with many different types of nationalities that are responsible for coming together and sharing the same space with each other. According to the United States Census Borough Out of the nine and a half million people who live in Los Angeles County only 48% of which are classified as white. The other 52% in order of most to least is made up by the qualification of Ð''other'(23.5%), Asian (11.9%), African American (9.8%), and American Indian/Alaskan Native (0.3%). Undoubtable the ethnicity that I am, Persian, accounts for a very high percentage of the Ð''other' qualification that was set up in this survey. When this many Ethnic groups are all living in the same area there is a great deal of room for misunderstandings and it takes an extra amount of effort to keep everything on friendly terms. Perhaps the most shocking statistic that I have found through research was how 54.1%(only averaging 18% in the rest of the United States) of homes in Los Angeles County speak a language other than English at home. To me this number is staggering, how can so many people expect to live in an area successfully together when English is their second language, could this possibly be responsible for a great many of the misunderstandings and language barriers that take place within Los Angeles Counties society? Throughout this paper I intend to discuss what I believe is the important aspects of Nationalism for many cultures. I will also be discussing how I believe it is important to act responsibly in society. My thesis statement because of the way our government is set up, political action is virtually the only way to be able to get things that are important to you addressed. So I believe that is the responsibility of every ethnic group to organize and make sure they play an active part of every election, effectively making sure that lawmakers pay attention to the issues that interest them most. However, mobilizing the minorities can only do so much, it will also take an effort from those of us that already have our rights being protected, because Americans need to live by the motto that injustice is justice, no matter who it is towards it still winds up effecting me. I will be discussing how I believe the atmosphere of my county to be. This includes some personal experiences along with incorporating a great deal of the ideas of unity learned throughout this course to try to implement a plan that helps all Americans equally, because after all, social injustice and civil rights is everybody's business. I will also be discussing how certain highly respectable groups agree that the gap that creates an unfair advantage needs to be narrowed, and that it is our responsibility as Americans to make sure it does so. I will also seek out to answer all the questions presented by the instructor regarding the culture around me and how my own ethnicity is different from others.

First of all, a question was presented asking if members of my community look like me. To this I answer that members of my specific community look like me, oftentimes for other reasons than nationality. Personally I have always felt that socioeconomic factors are far more accurate gauges of commonality than where my parents were born. For Instance, if 75% of people who are my ethnicity are rich and I am not, I would most likely make the claim that although they look like me ethnically and culturally that is where the similarities end. I was born American and oftentimes that is the key contributor to how I disagree with my parents about different issues. For instance, they may feel that they are most similar to those who are poorer but are still Persian. Personally, I feel that I am more similar to those I went to high school and college with, because when it comes down to it those are the people who I have truly learned to associate with. In large part Nationalility and taking pride in personal origins are superceded by the concept that current Americans have formed a new nation of people where origins and cultures are watered down for the sake of unity. On a whole, those who live around me are a lot like me. They make a similar amount of money, they have similar education levels, and they have similar interests as I do. Of course, there are bad areas where poverty and crime seems to thrive. These crime-ridden areas do happen to have certain kinds of people who populate them, but, of course, those who have less money populate the areas that have more problems. We as Americans love to put a face on our problems, someone to blame for our shortcomings. But anyone who takes the time to think rationally about socioeconomic issues would realize that we should truly be blaming the leaders who allow an area to become so impoverished not the people who are unfortunate enough to inhabit it. Leaders in my community treat myself and other Persian Americans with a great amount of respect. This is because most Persians who are able to make it to the United States most of the time are very well off, and many Persians are very successful educated people. There is also a high concentration of Persian Americans in the Los Angeles County area. On the contrary there are those who are in the minority in Los Angeles County such as African Americans or Latin Americas. Sadly, these people do not seem to have the same impact politically because those who need the help the most oftentimes do not vote or organize to fight for their rights. People within the community generally treat Persian Americans well, however; I experienced quite a backlash after the events of September 11th. Oftentimes, the most ignorant people are also the ones that do the picking on of people, so I was on the receiving end of more than my fair share of brutal name-calling. However, on the whole, people within the community appreciate Persian-Americans because they provide a great service to America. Oftentimes they are bringing their assets to America stimulating the economy as well as oftentimes bringing the educations they earned in Iran to America. Many of your doctors, Therapists, Lawyers, Plastic Surgeons are of Persian dissent.

Conversely, some are not treated with the same mutual respect within our community. This is because, for one reason or another, others feel that the particular group is not providing a service to the community. For instance, a great portion of Los Angeles City is inhabited by Latin- Americans. This is perhaps the poorest section of the city. Oftentimes people in general do not take the time to analyze things properly, and this leads to increased racism. Is this the poor section because Mexican Americans live there, or do they live there because it is the most affordable

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