Tanaka Pedro Essay 3

7/31/2019 Tanaka Pedro Essay 3

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Pedro Tanaka

Professor Finnegan

English 1A

19 March 2009

Multiculturalism in California

The election of the first African American president brought to light questions about how

multicultural is the land that Obama considered as “always a land of immigrants” (Staff). In “What

is Multiculturalism?,” Gregory Jay discusses the different meanings that multiculturalism have in

each context. As a prominent writer Jay points out, “[the] divisions between cultural groups are

less the voluntary decisions of individuals that the product of discrimination and bigotry in the

operation of the economy and the social institutions” (Jay 58). In making this statement, Jay argues

that segregation forces individuals to take a side independently of their will. Moreover, Jay claims

that, differently from identity political, multiculturalism does not label individuals as members of

just one ethnic group. He notes that “[r]ecent proponents of multiculturalism, indeed, have

emphasized the multiculturalism within each individual” (Jay 59). Jay’s point is that one person

can be a member of many groups. For instance, a man can perceive himself at one moment as a

Latino and at other moment as a Republican.

In the book The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican

American, Stephen J. Pitti exposes the history of discrimination that Mexican Americans

experienced in California. Pitti states, “Francis Palacious was one San Josean who remembers

having been discouraged by high school counselors from going to college, and thousands like her



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Hondagneu-Sotelo shows that those workers who “melted” in the American culture receive the

best salaries.

In contrast to the place depicted by Rawls’ California Dream of “opportunity and success,

warmth, sunshine and beauty, health and long life, freedom, and even a foretaste of the future”

(Rawls 23), California has, in fact, been a land marked by discrimination and injustices. The

accounts described in The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican

American and “Maid in L.A.” challenge Jay’s definition of multiculturalism. Accordingly,

California is not multicultural.

Racial discrimination continues to exist in California. Conflicting with the definition of

multiculturalism, the racism present in the Golden State is a barrier to integration and

development. As Pitti points out, “[t]heir [, Latinos,] labor remained tough, low-paid, and often

dangerous. Janitors like Jose Celis were instructed ‘to clean bathrooms with a solvent that

dissolved his gloves,’ and employees like Leonarda Pineda was fired when she ‘rebuffed her

foreman’s sexual propositions’” (Pitti 177). This quote shows the entire disregard that some

minorities experience from members of the dominant culture. Even though this prejudice is usually

hidden, it affects the lives of many minorities’ members. Hondagneu-Sotelo relates the story of a

housekeeper called Maribel who “eventually quit not because of the polishing and scrubbing, but

because being ignored devastated her socially” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 117). Basically, Hondagneu-

Sotelo is saying that discrimination has a high impact on members of non-dominant cultures.

Furthermore, there are cases of live-in nannies who are so disrespected by their American bosses

that even food is denied. Pitti states that “[o]ne Latina live-in nanny/housekeeper told me that in

her employers’ substantial pantry, little ‘DO NOT TOUCH’ signs signaled which food items were

not available to her” (Hondagneu-Sotelo 120). Hondagneu-Sotelo insists that although many of



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these families are financially able, they deny basic and cheap things like food. As Jewelle Taylor

Gibbs and Teiasha Bankhead state in their article “Coming to California: Chasing the Dream,”

“Skin color superseded all other salient characteristics as a ticket to claim a share of the California

pot of Gold” (Gibbs and Bankhead). Conflicting with multicultural theory, the racial barriers

existent in California are still to be overcome.

Chicanos are one example of the “melting pot” theory. Rejected by new immigrants,

Chicano culture represents a “middle-of-the-road” culture, one that incorporates elements of both

Latino and American culture. According to Pitti, “ethnic Mexicans and others retained political

visions that looked well beyond the geographical boundaries of the county and transcended the

rhetoric of the Chicano Power” (Pitti 192). In making this statement, Pitti argues that there’re

differences between Chicanos and Latino immigrants. Moreover, while Chicanos are concerned

with local problems, the recent immigrants are more concerned about the problems in their patria

than in their new country. Pitti states:

“[i]mmigrants lambasted Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional, the singularly

powerful political party in that country, for monopolizing control of the federal government

and for official’s supposed involvement in drug trafficking. Local residents also

condemned Adolfo G. Domingues, the consul general of Mexico, who told a San Jose

audience in 1964 that California could expect a larger number of undocumented ‘wetbacks’

after the Bracero Program ended later that year, an unfortunate development because while

Japanese and other farmworkers in California had the ‘mental resources and education to

take care of himself … the Mexican bracero is helpless without supervision.’Shocked at the

affront to Mexican citizens, San Jose’s El Paladin asked readers ‘how it seems to you,

what a representative we have’” (Pitti 192).



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In other words, differing from Chicanos, immigrants still attached to their home country and

culture. Thus, the Chicano group is a proof that with time, cultures melt into the dominant

Californian white culture, a fact that conflicts with Jay’s definition of multiculturalism.

Another fact that conflicts with Jay definition of multiculturalism is that the educational

system in California is racist. Mine and my brother’s personal experiences as students of the

California public system have shown us that many school employees have racial preconceptions. It

seems that invisible to me, but visible to others, there is a stamp in my face implying that I’m

dumb. Once, I dropped by the counseling department at Foothill to talk about my plans of

transferring and discuss what should I do to prepare a stronger application. As soon as I told the

counselor that I wished to transfer to Stanford, he, without looking at my record or asking any

question, said that I had almost no chances. He promptly suggested that I should not even apply to

Stanford and that I should consider just getting an associate degree. Considering that the only thing

this guy knew about me was that my name was Pedro, a typical Latin name, I now realize that his

assumptions about my potential are evidence of the discrimination described by Pitti. Furthermore,

I also experienced teachers that have unusual tough corrections on my tests. I remember the day

that I received a mathematics test on which the teacher took off twice as many points as he had

taken from a Caucasian colleague of mine who made the same mistakes. Moreover, my brother, a

high school student, has been discouraged to pursue as big objectives as his Caucasian friends. For

instance, he tells me it’s common for the high school counselors to recommend to Latino students

to take less challenging courses. Such attitudes of officials that were supposedly hired to help

students are shameful. Does being a Latin make you inherently less capable than a white? My

experience shows that California educational system is far from being free of prejudice or

multicultural.



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In 1994, Californians voted in favor of a ballot measure, Prop. 187, designed to prohibit

illegal immigrants from using health care, social services, and public education. In the shadows of

the October 2003 gubernatorial recall election, California voters deliberated against a controversial

ballot measure, Prop. 54, that would have banned state and local governments from collecting

certain race and ethnicity data about its residents. Both propositions are proof that Californians

don’t want to take the first step in achieving a true multicultural society. If Jay correctly defined

multiculturalism, the Golden State cannot currently be considered multicultural due to these clear

acts that privilege the mainstream society. Jay states, “[i]t is these [, bigotry in the operation of the

economy and the social institutions,] that divide people by race ethnicity, sexual preference, etc.,

privileging the dominant group and subordinating the rest…” (Jay 58-9). In making this comment,

Jay points out that having different ethnic groups doesn’t mean that you have multiculturalism.

Hence, Californians’ position on both prop 187 and prop 54 shows that even though the state has

many different ethnic groups, it isn’t truly multicultural.

California may be partially multicultural. On the one hand, the state has mixed cultures

embraced by US born descendents of Mexicans citizens like the “Brown Power.” On the other

hand, the state has immigrants that have kept their native cultures. Others are members of the

dominant group. As a result of this diverse combination, we have something that is in between the

“melting pot” and multicultural theories. Analogously, my educational experience in America has

been diverse. I have had extremely good teachers that make no racial distinctions; these are true

teachers. Yet, I also have had teachers and had to deal with school officials who were maybe not

racist but, at least, disrespectful of my right to be treated the in the same manner they would treat a

Caucasian. Thereupon, I can say with confidence that California is partially multicultural.



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Works cited

Gibbs, Jewelle T. and Bankhead, Teiahsha. Preserving Privilege. Greenwood Publishing Group,

Inc., 2001.



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Jay, Gregory. “What is Multiculturalism?”

Pierette Hondagneu-Sotelo. Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows

of Affluence.The Regents of the University of California, 2001.

Pitti Stephen J. The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican

American. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003. Chapter 8: “Silicon

Valley.” Pp. 173-197.

Rawls, James J., and Walton Bean. California an interpretative History. 8 th edition. McGraw-Hill,

2003.

Staff. “Obama said America was always a land of immigrants” Online posting. 8 July 2008. 19

March 2009. <http://talkradionews.com/2008/07/obama-said-america-was-always-a-

land-of-immigrants/>.

http://talkradionews.com/2008/07/obama-said-america-was-always-a-land-of-immigrants/




Tanaka Pedro Essay 3

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