Many Irishmen immigrated to America seeking a better life as well as a place to call home. Moreover, Irishmen where looking for a place for acceptance since in their homeland they were oppressed by the British. The journey to America was one filled with hope, once here the Irish believed that they would be liberated. The Irish assumed that in America there was room for economic advancement and job opportunities. Nonetheless, they soon realized that the American dream was not going to come true. Once in America many Irishmen experienced exploitation and social disintegration. The Irish were stereotyped as ignorant and forced to occupy the lowest forms of employment. ”At school they allegedly emitted a “pungent odor”—the “fumes of New England rum”, after reading the passage I instantly noticed the similarities between the Irish and Middle Eastern people from places such as India, Pakistan, and Iraq.
Warfare and religious persecution has forced many Middle Easterners to migrate to America seeking a better life just like the Irish. Nonetheless, once in America many of them have been treated intolerable and accused of the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001. The average America does not even know the difference between the different ethnicities in Asia. Some people automatically view people from the Middle East as a terrorist without even knowing which country they are from. Middle Easterners are ridiculed for their strong dialects, foreign garb, and their allegedly strong stench
Upward mobility was a slow steadfast road for most Irishman; through transformed identities from Irishman to Americans. To the oppressing of other races such as the Chinese and Blacks the Irish are now “accepted” by society. They have conformed after much hardship and are no longer seen as savages, many Irish- Americans are just seen as white Americans, they are no longer stigmatized. My question is what it will take for Middle Eastern Americans to be accepted by “society”, will they have to conform like the Irish?
It took me a while to answer your question because honesty, I don’t know. Actually, my answer is I don’t know because I really don’t know. (Can I state at as my answer?) I like how you compared your topic to the “Middle Easterners”. This proves the blaming game never stops. From my personal experience, when something goes wrong, society likes to point finger. Even when this person or group has nothing to do with the situation, society needs to blame someone for the crime committed. Sadly on 9/11 all the Middle Easterners in the US were blamed for the crime committed. Innocent kids were picked on at school and professionals got turned down from their job. I can also use the Hmong Community in Wisconsin as an example. In 2007, a Hmong man shot seven Caucasians, after the news was released Hmong communities were considered violent and individuals were stating that we shouldn’t be here (in the US). My point is, even though one person committed the crime; society blamed the whole community. The Hmong community’s situation isn’t as big as 9/11, but it relates because after one person commits a crime, the whole community gets blame for his actions, and they faces his consequences. This is why I answered I don’t know.
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