Richard Rodriguez

Richard Rodriguez

Richard Rodriguez was a son of Mexican immigrant parents. Rodriguez attended Stanford University for his bachelor’s degree. Richard Rodriguez in his essay “Blaxicans and other Reinvented Americans” points out that America has become populated with immigrants from other countries of the world. Rodriguez points out that a person can choose ethnicity depending on the things he/she likes, and thus ethnicity has no relationship with race. Rodrigues believes that ethnicity is defined by the things an individual is interested in. Different articles give different views on Rodriguez’s thoughts about diversity and ethnicity in his essay “Blaxicans and other Reinvented Americans.”

Rodriguez points out that ethnicity and race are two different things. In the essay “Blaxicans and other Reinvented Americans” Rodriguez states that individuals choose their ethnicity based on the things they like doing (Schwartz, 102). Rodriguez explains that he once lived in a Chinese neighborhood. During his first days in China, Rodriguez saw everything unfamiliar because the things the Chinese were doing he was not used to them. The Chinese culture and practices were new to Rodriguez, and therefore, Rodriguez had difficulties in coping with the new culture during his first days. After sometimes, Rodriguez was used to the Chinese practices and adapted to them. At the end of the essay, Rodriguez claims that he is Chinese because he likes the practices of Chinese, which is the definition of ethnicity. Rodriguez argues that there is nothing like a Hispanic race in America and he identifies himself as a Hispanic.

According to Rodriguez, Hispanic defines the culture of a person. Also, in the essay “Blaxicans and other Reinvented Americans” Rodriguez argues that assimilation occurs naturally. In the essay, Rodriguez describes a story between Laotian people and Mexicans. The communities do not like each other, but people from each community have an accent of the other community while speaking. Therefore, even though the two races hate one another, they still have an impact on each other, which suggests that assimilation occurs naturally.

Another article analyses Richard Rodriguez essay in a different version. The article opens the analysis of Rodriguez’s essay by stating that Rodriguez acknowledges the existence of people from different parts of the world in America (Rana, 290). Rodriguez says that citizens in America cannot be identified by race because individuals can possess more than one race depending on the things they value. Rodriguez states that ethnicity is based on the manner people act and the things they value. Hispanic is a term that was used during colonization, and some Americans have a false meaning about Hispanic. Rodriguez in his essay suggests that in America there are black Hispanics and as well the white Hispanics and therefore, Hispanic has nothing to do with racism as some Americans think. Richard points out that in the world there is an array of races. Also, Rodriguez states that in America different races are intertwined within the state. Some races find themselves practicing the culture of the other races. Assimilation is the act of people from different backgrounds identifying themselves as part of a large national household. The two articles represent almost similar ideas in the essay by Richard Rodriguez.

From my view, Richard Rodriguez essay is relevant to the states where people of different races stay together. According to Rodriguez, it’s unethical to identify individuals depending on their races. Ethnicity is defined by the things a person considered to be more important in his/her life. Also, ethnicity does not have any relationship with race. In the world, there are uncountable different types of races, and each race has an impact on the other. Rodriguez identifies himself as a Chinese in his essay because he likes the things they do. Therefore, it is possible for an individual to have more than one race depending on the different cultures an individual likes practicing. Hispanic has nothing to do with black American or white American (West, 243). “Hispanics a gringo contrivance, a definition of the world according to European patterns of colonization.” Americans should not follow the meaning of Hispanic as it was used earlier for colonization purposes. Assimilation occurs naturally when different races live together (West, 275). “If I had a bumper sticker on the subject, it might read something like ASSIMILATION HAPPENS.” Assimilation occurs when a certain race finds itself practicing the culture of another race. The essay by Richard Rodriguez encourages peace in America where people from different races live together in the same state.

In summary, “Blaxicans and other Reinvented Americas” was written by Richard Rodriguez to give his views on ethnicity, races, and assimilation. Different articles use different versions to analyze Rodriguez’s essay. Analysis from various articles on Rodriguez’s thoughts about ethnicity and assimilation do not differ too much from one another. Ethnicity has nothing to do with race. Person’s ethnicity depends on the things valued by the person. When different races live together, the races have an impact on one another, and one race finds itself practicing the culture of the other race through assimilation. Assimilation occurs naturally. The essay by Richard Rodriguez is significant to America where people from different countries live together.