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Welcome to Ecom Monthly Intro to American Culture.
I am Marcellus.
And I am Heather.
And this month is the month of September and that means what, Heather?
Back to school.
That's right, in September, many, many, many, many students in America are preparing to go back to school
for another year of study.
And a lot of things happen around back to school season
besides students becoming blue because they have to go back to class.
One popular thing around this time is to have a lot of sales in the stores.
Yeah, back to school shopping. You can get sales for anything basically.
That's right.
All your stationery, notebooks and pencils, computers.
You know, everybody needs a new computer.
Clothes as well.
Yeah and things for college students, like a refridgerator or a microwave, anything basically.
That's right.
I think one of the reasons why it's such a popular sale season is because many parents are going nuts buying a lot of things
to help their kids go back to school and, as Heather mentioned,
popular items are stationery, like pens and notebooks, also new clothes for students.
And if you're a college student, new things to help you get through the year:
again, furniture, computers, whatever it is that you need to make it to the next year...
Yeah.
...through college.
Another sign in America that it's back to school is all of the yellow school buses out on the roads.
Ah-ha.
And that is, I think, a very American thing.
We have those big, yellow school buses that the students take to school.
And basically, you only walk to school, I think if you live less than 1 mile or something.
You know, I don't know the rule.
It's a very short distance.
If you live outside that distance, then you can take the school bus
and it's free, but sometimes it takes quite a long time on that bus.
That's right.
But, it's fun for the children, like elementary school and junior high school; I think those students really enjoy the bus.
High schoolers, not so much. They like to get their own car and drive to school.
Speaking of which, people begin to drive in America from the age of 16.
Yeah.
So, a lot of high school students do drive to school.
A lot of accidents.
Be careful.
Anyway...
That's right, be careful.
And are you ready?
Let's begin.
Let's begin.
All right everyone, today's topic is melting pot and race in America.
Very big issues for Americans.
Yes, very, very big.
Our first key word here is: melting pot.
And the second key word is a very sensitive one and that is: racism.
And our third key word is: ethnicity.
All right, so let's start off with the first key word of melting pot.
And basically, I know in some European countries, they also are a melting pot, but America is very famous for this word.
And basically, if you imagine a pot and you're putting many different things inside and it's melting everything together.
All right, so this basically means that America has all these people from different cultures, different countries,
and they're kind of all going together and becoming one.
That's right, so the idea of melting pot, the concept was the blending together of many cultures,
because, as Heather mentioned, America is basically a country of immigrants
and the people come from all over the world and they become American.
And they bring their cultures with them and those cultures all are put into the big pot and melted down.
Melted down is kind of an interesting word, but melted into one American culture.
Blended together.
Right and I think it's important to remember that most cultures keep their own identity,
but then there also is this kind of American identity
That's right.
that maybe everyone can say, "I'm American," and you can also say your own personal background,
maybe my parents are from this place or this place.
That's right.
Yeah.
All right, so let's talk about the second key word.
Now, the second key word is a very sensitive one and one that is deeply rooted in America's history,
and that word is: racism.
Although the goal of America is to become a true melting pot, when you have different types of people living together,
sometimes those people don't like each other or they don't get along.
Particularly with the history of America and slavery and Black versus White, racism is an issue in America,
but it's not just about Black and White.
Sometimes Asians are descriminated against. Sometimes minority groups descriminate against the majority.
Racism basically is just a concept of looking at someone, making judgements about them or treating them in a negative way,
based only on the way they look or where they're from without considering who they are.
And in America, although racism still exists, the idea of racism is taboo.
We would like to think that we can get over racism.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think it is very taboo and most people are worried that something they say or do
will make other people think they are racist.
So, many people are very worried about the words they use or something
and sometimes it's a little extreme to be worried so much, but we try to be careful.
Now, well I think it's better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, very, yes.
All right, and the third key word today is: ethnicity.
And this is an interesting one that we had a bit of a debate over...
That's right.
...about the meaning.
And the fact is that we had a different idea about the meaning of ethnicity.
So, that means in America maybe people have different ideas about it.
We thought maybe ethnicity on the one hand can refer to your race.
For example: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, something like that.
On the other hand, it could also be a little more focused.
For example: the area, like Arabic, or Southern Pacific Islander or French, or something like that.
So, I don't know. It's a little difficult.
Yeah, it is a little difficult.
You'll find yourself in many situations in America and because America's a country of immigrants,
a lot of times, Americans while calling themselves Americans,
still value the culture from the country that they originally came from.
So, a lot of times, Americans will ask each other, "What's your ethnicity?"
Right.
Even though both people are obviously Caucasian,
from the outsider's perspective, that would be sort of a strange question to ask,
but what's really being asked is, "Where did your parents or grandparents immigrate from?"
Right and you're not asking so that you can judge them.
That's right.
It's just an interesting topic we like to talk about, right?
So, I could say, if I just meet you on the street, I could say, you know, "Where are you from?"
That's right.
And maybe you say, "America," right? "I'm from here."
And then I could ask, "What's your family background?" or "What's your ethnicity?"
That's right.
Yeah, and then you could get a very interesting answer and have a talk about it.
Now, one other usage of the word 'ethnicity' is if you are filling out a job application, a visa application,
or any sort of official document and it says 'ethnicity',
usually that refers to your race or your racial identity based on the region you come from,
like Pacific Islander and (European) in the case of Europe, if you're Indian or African, or Caucasian.
All of those categories fall under the word 'ethnicity'.
Right. All right, phew!
Yep.
That was a tough one.
But, really interesting I think.
Thank you for listening.
Yep.
Yeah.
All right, see you in a bit.
That is all the time that we have for today.
This being the month of September, many of you may be going back to school.
Hang in there! New classes will start, the new semester will start, but I'm sure if you work hard, you'll be OK.
Take care!
See you next time!
Bye!