Racial segregation and ethnicity

Racial segregation and ethnicity

Introduction

Racial segregation and ethnicity is a topic that has been going on for a while, with different forms of discrimination negative stereotyping among people of different races in different parts of the world. Sunnyside is comedy series with an America setting. The comedy was created by Kal Penn and Matt Murray, who also serve as the showrunners. The comedy was premiered in the year 2019.

The first episode of the comedy is titled, Pilot. In the first episode, Garret Modi, who was a former councilman, was removed from his office, and he was replaced by Diana Barea. The replacement left Garret jobless, and he had to move in with her sister Mallory Modi who was a successful doctor to look for means of supporting himself. Modi began teaching a group of immigrants who were continuing with their citizenship classes. Among the immigrants was Hakim, who was a cardiothoracic surgeon from Ethiopia but could not practice due to lack of license.

Another immigrant was Griselda who was a Dominican immigrant that got married to United States citizen and did some unreasonable jobs. Mei Lin was Asian seeking citizenship in the United States. Brady was also an immigrant who was born in Moldova and came to the United States at the age of two. He was enrolled in Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and is still fighting his way to obtain citizenship. Garret wanted to use the group to gain political mileage, but one of his students got arrested, thus exposing his fraudulence. The immigrants left his class but later came back as garret promised to stay with them until they gained citizenship

The second episode is titled The Ethiopian Executioner. In this episode, the underhand dealings of hakim came to light. He had been bribing another person to help him get a visa for his sister. Garret tried to corner the conman, but he managed to escape. After the conman’s plan was busted, hakim recorded the confession and used it as blackmail to get his money back. Meanwhile, garret taught Jun Ho and Mei Lin how to enjoy their lives in America at a low cost.

The main focus

The main theme of the first two episodes of the comedy is the struggles that foreigners go through in an attempt to acquire the United States citizenship. The immigrants in the show are of different races, the African doctor who could not practice and Mei Lin, who was an Asian. Because of their racial differences from the Americans, it was difficult for them to obtain citizenship so that they could carry on with their economic activities to make a living for themselves. They ended up being deceived and duped by other Americans who lied to help them achieve citizenship.

One needed to pass his or her citizenship test to be a citizen in the United States. The immigrants were preparing for their citizenship test so that they could become United States citizens, but because of their racial difference, their citizen friends seized the opportunity to use them for political mileage and to obtain money from them using dubious means since the immigrants were desperate to obtain the citizenship.

Negative stereotyping

The first two episodes of the comedy demonstrated a form of negative stereotyping along racial lines. The second episode portrayed the Ethiopian doctor as a bad influence and a corrupt person. Hakim, the Ethiopian doctor, wanted to obtain a visa for her sister to come and stay with him. Instead of going through the right channels, he opted to bribe a man who lied to him to be an officer at the immigration office. He ended up corrupting his way only to find out later that he was duped by the American. The scene depicted the African as a corrupt member of the society who could not go through the right channels to obtain services but would rather bribe is way through.

The first two episodes of the movie also depicted the whites who lived in the United States as exploitative people who liked to take advantage of the suffering situations facing others. The racial exploitation by the whites was depicted when Garret lost his job. When garret was replaced by Diana Barea from his work, he opted to take advantage of the immigrants who were desperate to obtain United States citizenship. His aim was to use the group for his own political mileage. Because garret lost his job, he moved in with her sister as he tried to look for an alternative means of earning a living. He opted to take advantage of the immigrants who had money for his own benefits. He organized classes for them purporting to be helping them achieve citizenship, but it was all for his own good.

Effects of racial differences on the immigrants

The comedy also highlighted the difficulties that not citizens, especially those baring racial differences from the Americans, faced. Hakim is a professional from Ethiopia who specialized in cardiothoracic surgery but ended up in America. Because he is an immigrant who is an African for that matter, he was unable to practice medicine in the United States because he could not be licensed as a professional he ended up being a taxi driver in the United States and stopped practicing his career. Because of his racial difference, he could not be assimilated into the American culture. The ethnic flexibility in the American land was not friendly to the immigrants who would like to live there. Mallory Modi, who is also a doctor like Hakim, is enjoying his career since she was born in the United States.

Poor assimilation of the immigrants

Cultural assimilation is an important factor in determining the survival of an immigrant in any given country. The racial minorities who lived in the United States had a tough time to be assimilated into the American culture. The strict rules of acquiring citizenship barred them from fitting into the society to move on with their lives. In the process of attending the fake classes organized by garret, Drazen, who was an immigrant originating from Moldova, got arrested. The Ethiopian cardiothoracic surgeon could not fit to practice in America because he lacked both citizenship and license. The strict rules barred the immigrants from exploiting their full potential for economic benefits. The immigrants ended up living at the mercy of conmen who wanted to use them.

There were racial discrimination and inequality, considering how the immigrants who wanted to be citizens in the united states were treated. The Americans enjoyed their lives and were given job opportunities while people like the African doctor had a difficult time and ended up being a taxi driver. From the episodes, it was evident that all the Americans who came into the play were working while people from other countries were jobless trying to obtain citizenship, which was a long process. It was unfortunate that even Brady, who lived in America from the age of two, was yet to be a citizen as much as he tried.

Potential improvements for the movie

If I were a consultant for the movie, I would make slight changes to improve on the racial depictions portrayed in the first two episodes that I watched. The comedy put some of the racial characters in the wrong light. The Americans were portrayed in the comedy as dubious people who loved using others for their own benefits. The African, on the other hand, was portrayed as a corrupt person who could not find his way through in a rightful manner but through bribes. I would make slight changes to paint the groups in more of a good light. Such kind os stereotyping would lead to the growth of some form of racial discrimination and segregation.

The comedy also revealed how difficult it could be to obtain citizenship in America. It revealed the hard times that immigrants from other countries were facing in the United States. I would change the narrative to fix the negative stereotyping of the American government on how they handle legal immigrants from other countries. The process of acquiring citizenship among the racial minority could be depicted as a friendly process and not a stressful activity, as evident in the movie.