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American Ethnic Studies: The Three Elements of Citizenship

Essay Instructions:

Let us consider more contemporary occurrences of the question of citizenship and assumed behavior from certain racial or ethnic groups.
President Barack Obama, our current president, was being questioned for quite some time about his citizenship and whether or not he committed fraud and forged a false birth certificate.
Here are a few articles about this story from the Washington Post (https://www(dot)washingtonpost(dot)com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/08/19/no-ted-cruz-birthers-are-not-the-same-as-obama-birthers/?utm_term=.38a5972f08d2) and the Huffington Post (http://www(dot)huffingtonpost(dot)com/2012/05/22/don-racheter-iowa-birther-_n_1535721.html).
In a later instance, the country had a loud and visceral reaction to the shooting of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch patrol, George Zimmerman (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). This brought up questions about race and discrimination, in addition to a public and personal statement made by President Obama regarding his racial experiences:
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=MHBdZWbncXI (Links to an external site.)
These instances were a precursor to what we have come to see as a large contemporary movement known as the Black Lives Matter movement, after multiple shootings of Black men by police officers. This has been a movement to obtain further equality amongst racial difference. As the movement has gained momentum, we see different elements coming to light regarding cultural appropriation, preconceived notions about racial categorization, and social unevenness.
After reading some articles and these instance, please answer the following questions:
How does this speak to identity both as U.S. citizens and as members of ethnic groups? How do these different instances change the manner in which we define who is an appropriate citizen or not? Why is it necessary to categorize individuals by race, ethnicity, gender, class, and now, citizenship? How does this divide our society on the basis of social constructions of difference?
Please citation after answering.

Essay Sample Content Preview:

American Ethnic Studies
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American Ethnic Studies
Citizenship in this context, is both specific in terms of culture and history. The history of the seventeenth century and that one of the eighteenth century contributed greatly to the emergence of citizenship (Higginbotham & Anderson, 2006). Labor was a determining factor, especially that one found from non- independent wives, servants, slaves, employees and the children. For the citizens, there was an entitlement to some rights that could not be enjoyed by the non-citizens. The three components in the citizenship happen to be the membership, duties and rights, and necessary circumstances of the practice (Higginbotham & Anderson, 2006). The three elements of citizenship sought to discover the meaning of membership, those considered to be members and under what conditions these responsibilities will be realized.
In the United States, membership was twofold in the sense that, one was through political institutions and the other one was through blood relations. Initially, in the 1780’s, the United States was considered as a hub of freedom for those running away from oppression. This was not to be the same case for the indigenous Americans, African slaves and the Mexicans (Higginbotham & Anderson, 2006). The constitution, however, did not clarify who was to be included in its reference of who “the people” where, when relating to the boundaries of America. This means that there was no clear understanding of who was to enjoy the privileges promised by the same constitution. The scenario brought about division in the ethnic groups present in the U.S. The minority groups had to suffer for a long time under the oppressive rule of the majority who were the whites. This has been very evident, for example, in the recent incidences of police brutality towards the black race in U.S, that has brought about a serious outcry.
It is important to classify individuals by race, gender, ethnicity, class and citizenship in that the race issue, for example, will prepare the young ones to grow knowing exactly how they expect to be treated by the society (Higginbotham & Anderso...
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