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Does America celebrate its ethnicity? Ask a Question

Does America celebrate its ethnicity?
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6 Answers

We kind of celebrate when blacks and whites became equal (Martin Luther King Day). That's all I can really think of.

St. Patrick's Day, Cinco de Mayo, Octoberfest, Chinese New Year, and everyone at least knows what Hanukah is....

I would say so.

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Not really, I see Americans of all backgrounds celebrating their heritage. I don't think you have a clear picture.

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What is "American ethnicity"? - to me America is perhaps the biggest melting pot on earth. And what do you mean by celebrating ethnicity? To me that has a somewhat dubious connotation (could be because English is not my native language), but I immediately think of superiority of certain racial groups above others or is that not what is meant here?

3 Replies to pollewop's answer

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Well said !

Keep trying, they don't know what they are missing.

Thanks for clearing that up :-), I suppose this is what we call "celebrating cultural diversity" rather than ethnicity in my country.

I have to add that in the Netherlands things are not the same as several years ago. There have been tensions between different groups and these have been further augmented by politicians.

And to be honest I have grown to become less enthusiast about celebrating national culture myself, probably for different reasons. I think each culture posesses a lot of great things but sadly also bad things. "National culture" for me is perhaps too much associated with things like culturally determined group pressure, nationalism, and backwards treatment of minorities. Therefore I do not wish to completely associate myself for 100% with Dutch culture (to which I would belong ethnically speaking), nor to any other culture for that matter. At the same time I think it is essential that people who want to belong to a nation agree on certain basic principles of that nation. Here too we have some problems with some immigrants who, based on culture and religion, object to certain basics of the Dutch state.

We celebrate all the time with ethnic festivals, art displays, parades, etc. Also we have restaurants from all ethnic backgrounds. Our big cities are made up of ethnic neighborhoods, so there are cultural opportunities due to this.

1 Replies to hoosier2u's answer

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