President Lyndon Johnson enacted affirmative action, signing it would "ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" (215) Students, from a very young age, are informed of all the hardships that Black people and women have faced and overcome throughout time and, that because of their dedication to equal treatment, discrimination has become nearly non-existent.
Though in broad spectrum in the United States equal rights for Blacks and women have improved drastically, these issues have not disappeared. Tatum writes that "a study... sent out close to 5,000 fictitious resumes... the resumes were all similar except that half of them were assigned as African American-sounding name... and the other half had names more commonly associated with Whites... the results showed significant discrimination against the Black-identified resumes" (217). We would like to think that the people most qualified for a job would be the ones to be hired, but when two people are neck and neck, the White person is the one to be hired, as shown in the survey. This survey's results can be reflected in the article from the Boston Globe by Nicole Dungca, "Lost On Campus, As Colleges Look Abroad". Dunca's article discussed the racism and discrimination seen in Boston colleges against Black students and how international students are favored. While we see these international students as a great way to diversify Boston, you will see very few Black local students, which you would think would be attending colleges from their city. Unfortunately, as pointed out by Dunca, they don't go to local schools because they don't feel welcomed. Yes, there are other races on campus, which can be seen as affirmative action, but one skin color is hardly ever seen on Boston campuses. Racism and discrimination against Black people is still very much a relevant problem, which Tatum is saying in this section of the book, but people (in broad terms) have become so used to the smaller problems that they think they no longer exist.
As readers begin chapter eight, they can see that Tatum is ready to open doors to problems among races besides Black groups. The group she focuses most on is the Latinx population. The most wide-spread issue that Latinx Americans have is the loss of their culture's language, Spanish. It's the most significant piece of the Central and Southern American worlds for many and when it is lost, people lose themselves (246). The largest group of Latinx people in the US are Puerto Ricans, whose language has been "devalued by the dominant culture" (246). While it is perfectly okay to want to be accepted by new people and make new friends, this should not mean that people need to forget who they were raised as and their heritage. If people do speak their native/ethnic tongue, they are possibly going to be shamed; such negative reactions to people speaking Spanish come from anyone from teens to the elderly. We hear about encounters like such in the news or even on the streets of a diverse city. Losing a language, while as said before is not good, gives one less thing for rude people to point out and laugh at, which is a positive that some immigrants might see.
Fitting in and being a "normal American teenager," speaking English might assist people in lsoing who they are or forgetting where they come from, but issues often reappear later in life for many. In the example Tatum gives, we are talking about the children of undocumented immigrants. Tatum goes in depth in her conversation about children that graduate high school, but can't further their education due to their parents being illegal (253). Kids and families don't want to risk getting their parents deported, but without financial assistance, they get stuck in the same low-paying jobs as their parents. Illegal immigrants in the past four years have been a huge topic of discussion in US news and a jumping off point for politics. The problems they have that Tatum talks about in this section are not quite like what we talk about now, but they are similar. There are lots of people that think healthcare should be provided for all, but others think illegal immigrants should not receive assistance. Like Tatum's example, they need help from the US to progress, but can't get it without exposing themselves, which is where a harsh and endless circle of struggles begin.
Tatum's book, especially in this section, is very relevant to problems we face today, which is what I would expect, as this copy is an edited and updated edition for its 20th anniversary.
Fitting in and being a "normal American teenager," speaking English might assist people in lsoing who they are or forgetting where they come from, but issues often reappear later in life for many. In the example Tatum gives, we are talking about the children of undocumented immigrants. Tatum goes in depth in her conversation about children that graduate high school, but can't further their education due to their parents being illegal (253). Kids and families don't want to risk getting their parents deported, but without financial assistance, they get stuck in the same low-paying jobs as their parents. Illegal immigrants in the past four years have been a huge topic of discussion in US news and a jumping off point for politics. The problems they have that Tatum talks about in this section are not quite like what we talk about now, but they are similar. There are lots of people that think healthcare should be provided for all, but others think illegal immigrants should not receive assistance. Like Tatum's example, they need help from the US to progress, but can't get it without exposing themselves, which is where a harsh and endless circle of struggles begin.
Tatum's book, especially in this section, is very relevant to problems we face today, which is what I would expect, as this copy is an edited and updated edition for its 20th anniversary.
