Race And Gender Has Shaped The Lives Of Californians

Eureka!- Even the Golden State had some Problems California becomes a multicultural area even before it becomes a state. It started with the Native Americans, Native Californians and Californios; then the Gold Rush brought a flood of new people such as Chinese, African American slaves, Europeans, etc, who wanted to make it rich. However, despite the fact that California increased in its diversity so much and so fast during its history, social and economic acceptance of different kinds of people was very low. When trying to gain statehood, one condition of the California Constitution was that foreigners have the same rights as Californios; however, shortly after, the Foreign miner’s tax was introduced, costing $20/month to mine in†¦show more content†¦After coming to the United States, Pham grew up in California but was still accosted frequently because of his race. During his bicycle ride on the west coast, a cup of liquid is thrown from a moving car at him while he is mocked; â€Å" ‘Hey Jap!’ a man i n the passenger seat shouts...The passenger sticks his head out the window and pushes the corners of his eyes, making â€Å"Chinese eyes† at me.† (Andrew X. Pham, Catfish and Mandala p. 37-38). Pham came to America at ten years old in 1977, so the â€Å"present† of the book seems to be set in the 90s. Modern day Americans like to believe that they are accepting, but even now hate crimes and acts of racism are happening. The 1990s is a fairly recent time and incidents like these were still occurring. Discrimination is contagious in a way, and Pham himself displays a variation of it. When he is traveling abroad he shows his own form of discrimination against his own heritage, separating himself with an us versus them mentality; â€Å"Mortified by the Vietnamese’s behavior and equally dismayed that I feel an obligatory connection to them, I sink deeper into my seat, resentful, ashamed of their incivility† (Pham p. 64). As a Vietnamese American, or viet kieu, he is not fully accepted by Americans or by native local Vietnamese. In this instance, he is associating with his Americanized upbringing and is critiquing himself in a way that diminishes the value of the Vietnamese and also himself. Pham displays this â€Å"us versus them† separation