Defining American.

One of the interesting experiences that I have had over the past few weeks in the “defining American” part of this course was listening to different groups of people and how they have been defined in American society.  The biggest revelation came when I was doing my presentation on Asian Americans.  As an Asian Canadian myself, and as someone who has relatives living in the United States, I always knew there were specific challenges that I would have to work with in society because of my race, but being able to do research on these topics, and to look in depth as to how Asian Americans were historically treated in America, and the specific challenges they still face in America was eye-opening.  Perhaps the most interesting thing I found was the way how even seemingly “positive” stereotypes can have negative effects on a population.  Being called a “nerd” because I’m Asian seems to have a more positive connotation that being called a “terrorist” or a “thug” because someone is Muslim or Black, but regardless, the stereotypes still reinforce images on a certain group of people and can affect the way someone looks at them because they are of a specific racial or ethnic group.  Being able to relate so much to my project and also to be able to learn more about myself was by far, the biggest highlight of the unit.

Besides my presentation, I also had the opportunity to learn more about how different groups of people were defined as well.  One group that particularly stood out to me was on veterans.  A lot of the time, we talk a lot about social issues that are based on race, gender, sexuality, and other socioeconomic factors, and while these issues are extremely important and shouldn’t be ignored, we often forget to talk about the countless issues that veterans who have served in the military face.  Because when talking about social issues such as homelessness and poverty, veterans make up a large part of America’s homeless and economically challenged.  And while many of us would agree that we do not like war and conflict, veterans still play a vital role in defending America as well as helping in peacekeeping efforts during conflicts, and we also cannot ignore the fact that veterans have fought in wars in the past and many have developed TBI and PTSD from their service.  In the end, they are human like the rest of us.  I found a video of a Bernie Sanders rally where he is listing off groups of people that Donald Trump has insulted.  I noticed that the crowd was not as loud when he mentions veterans, compared to other groups that he has mentioned.  The presentation on veterans has also made me more aware of the ways the American government fails to take care of veterans after they return from combat, and notably, the quality of the services that veterans can turn to for help.  When I think about this, I remember hearing Bernie Sanders talking about in an interview that if America can’t afford to take care of its veterans after they return from war, it shouldn’t be sending them to war in the first place, criticizing America’s habit of getting involved in too many conflicts.  This raises the question about whether or not America is willing to sacrifice its “standing on the world stage” in order to ensure they can take care of our veterans.  America has been known to be involved in many large-scale international conflicts, all the way from WWII to the recent War on Terror, and also spending a lot of money on military operations.  But even with the over half a trillion dollars America spends on the military every year, they still can’t help our veterans who are at the heart of making the military run.  I think if America wants to support their veterans, there needs to be prioritization into funding adequate programs and services that will help veterans after they return from service.